1 Introduction

Already in August 1990 a European Network of Laboratories "Visual Double Stars'' was founded (Oblak et al. [1992a]) for combining the efforts of scientist in six European countries with the goal to achieve accurate ground-based photometric and astrometric data of visual double and multiple stars as a complement to HIPPARCOS space observations (Oblak & Lampens [1992]).

In 1992 an ESO key programme was established to support photoelectric and CCD observations of visual double stars in the southern hemisphere (Oblak et al. [1992b]). Short summaries of the observations at ESO La Silla have been given by Lampens et al. ([1997]) and Oblak et al. ([1997]). Here we report on CCD photometry and astrometry performed in 1991-92 before the start of the key programme observations. This report complements a series of more detailed presentations and discussions of the ESO Key Programme results (Oblak et al. [1999], Paper I).