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After the IUTAM Symposium on Optimization in Structural Design held in Warsaw in 1973, it was clear to me that the time had come for organizing into a consistent body of thought the enormous quantity of results obtained in this domain, studied from so many different points of view, with so many different methods, and at so many levels of practical applicability. My colleague and friend Gianantonnio Sacchi from Milan and I met with Professor Prager in Savognin in July 1974, where I submitted to them my first ideas for a treatise on structural optimization: It should cover the whole domain from basic theory to practical applications, and deal with various materials, various types of structures, various functions required of the structures, and various types of cost . . Obviously, this was to be a team effort, to total three or four volumes, to be written in a balanced manner as textbooks and handbooks. Nothing similar existed at that time, and, indeed, nothing has been published to date. Professor Prager was immedi- ately in favor of such a project. He agreed to write a first part on optimality criteria with me and to help me in the general organization of the series. Since Professor Sacchi was willing to write the text on variational methods, it remained to find authors for parts on the mathematical programming approach to structural optimization (and, more generally, on numerical methods) and on practical optimal design procedures in metal and concrete.