This 1980 monograph develops from first principles the description of finite deformations of solids under stress and the forces acting, and also the expression of internal forces in terms of stress tensors. The important feature of the book is that elastic properties are discussed and developed consistently from classical thermodynamics. In other books, this point of view is acknowledged only by assuming the existence of an elastic energy function, thus restricting their range mainly to the problem of the spatial distribution of stresses and strains. Topics discussed as applications of the theory include thermal expansion, specific heats, stiffness and complicances, the effects of symmetry on thermodynamic properties, diffusion in a stressed solid, equilibrium in contact with a solution of the solid, phase stability, solid state phase transitions and twinning.