This book should fill a gap which has existed in the literature on supercon ductivity. There have been a number of excellent textbooks available on the phenomenon of superconductivity, which describe in detail the variety of ef fects connected with it and the mathematical techniques to deal with them properly. However, until now there has not been a textbook available in English which concentrates on the mate ial aspects of superconductivity. This is a major shortcoming since most physicists working in the field of superconduc tivity are mainly concerned with specific materials and...