In his preface to the first edition of The Particle Atlas, Jim Lodge talks of the challenge he posed to Dr. Walter McCrone in the 1950s to come up with a taxonomy for particles to assist in the identification of particles under the microscope. Jim's interest and the support of the Midwest Air Pollution Prevention Association and, laier, the US Public Health Service, gave birth to the first edition of The Particle Ailas. This first edition, published in 1967, was a single volume which combined guidance on particle separation and identification techniques with a collection of optical micrographs of reference particles. The demand for this reference work soon outpaced the supply. In the meantime, however, it had become obvious that reprinting was not the answer as increased application of the microscope, in all its implementations, to environmental pollution and industrial contamination had resulted in a need for a more comprehensive work.