The present volume is the first of three that will be published under the general title Lectures in Abstract Algebra. These vol­ umes are based on lectures which the author has given during the past ten years at the University of North Carolina, at The Johns Hopkins University, and at Yale "University. The general plan of the work IS as follows: The present first volume gives an introduction to abstract algebra and gives an account of most of the important algebraIc concepts. In a treatment of this type it is impossible to give a comprehensive account of the topics which are introduced. Nevertheless we have tried to go beyond the foundations and elementary properties of the algebraic sys­ tems. This has necessitated a certain amount of selection and omission. We feel that even at the present stage a deeper under­ standing of a few topics is to be preferred to a superficial under­ standing of many. The second and third volumes of this work will be more special­ ized in nature and will attempt to give comprehensive accounts of the topics which they treat. Volume II will bear the title Linear Algebra and will deal with the theorv of vectQ!_JlP. -a. ces. . . . . Volume III, The Theory of Fields and Galois Theory, will be con­ cerned with the algebraic structure offieras and with valuations of fields. All three volumes have been planned as texts for courses.