Preface to first edition 1997 This book has developed from more that 40 years of work with static electric problems and almost as long a period of teaching courses on electrostatics, primarily at The Technical University of Denmark. Several chapters of the book are hardly more than a brush-up of the general knowledge of most physicists. But with the ever increasing specialization, in today's teaching and research, little attention seems to be paid to simple and basic relations. For this regrettable fact I am grateful. It is my hope that the book may take the newcomer by the hand and also...