This book is not intended to be a History of Napoleon the First, but simply to reproduce the bulk of the Caricatures and Satires published in England on our great enemy, with as much of history as may help to elucidate them. The majority of the caricatures are humorous; others are silly, or spiteful—as will occasionally happen nowadays; and some are too coarse for reproduction—so that a careful selection has had to be made.

John Ashton (1834–1911) was a British author and compiler of books on folk tales and social history. His most famous works include "Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne" and "Humour, Wit and Satire of the Seventeenth Century".