Although the introductory chapter, which treats of the subject from the historical aspect, may possess an interest for the general reader, the book is primarily designed to afford such practical information as is likely to be of service to the intending searcher.In the performance of my task no available source of information has been unexplored, and it is hoped that the Annotated Index, which shows at a glance the date of the earliest entry in every Parish Register in England and Wales, and in which every transcript that has been printed is noted, will prove by its usefulness that my labours have not been in vain. I am only too conscious of the shortcomings of this publication, but can at least plead that I have honestly endeavoured, at a sacrifice of much time and labour, to compile a work which may be both of some historical interest and of some real value to the genealogist.
