A vacation in Paris inspired Miroslav Sasek to create children travel guides to the big cities of the world. He brought me This is Paris in 1958 when I was publishing in London, and we soon followed up with This is London. Both books were enormously successful, and his simple vision grew to include more than a dozen books. Their amusing verse, coupled with bright o acclaim he deserved. I was thrilled to learn that This is San Francisco will once again find its rightful place on bookshelves, and I would like to thank Judith Stonehill and Barbara Cohen of New York Bound Books for their help and enthusiasm in bringing this wonderful gem to the attention of Universe Publishing. Sasek is no longer with us (and I have lost all contact with his family), but I am sure he would be delighted to know that a whole new generation of wide-eyed readers is being introduced to his whimsical, imaginative, and enchanting world.