The present volume is a collection of selected papers published by the author. They are reproduced here in facsimile edition arranged under the headings: The Pioneers, Metallurgy, and Selected Topics. In the last section a paper on the position of aluminum in the Periodic Table is included another on gallium since it is mainly produced as a by-product of the aluminum industry, and the history of aluminum as illustrated on postage stamps. Also included are selected chapters on the chemistry of aluminum and some of its compounds. The collection gives a rapid and fully illustrated review of the history and extractive metallurgy of aluminum.