In 1985, volume 74 of the Springer-Verlag Handbook of Experimental Phar- macology, under the editorship of H. -H. Frey and D. Janz, appeared. In this volume the then available data on the topic of antiepileptic drugs were col- lated and analysed. Over the intervening years knowledge in this area has grown progressively. More new antiepileptic drugs than the total number of agents that were in common use 15 years ago have in the interval either come on to the market or are about to do so. As well, further agents are at a fairly advanced stage of development, whilst the already established...