This multi-volume work serves as a comprehensive bibliographic record of the fifteenth-century printed materials housed within the Bodleian Library. The authors, a team of expert bibliographers and historians, utilize rigorous cataloging standards to document early printing history, providing scholars with a definitive inventory of blockbooks, woodcuts, metalcuts, and incunabula. The text functions as a primary research tool, organizing thousands of items by provenance, physical characteristics, and historical context to facilitate academic inquiry into the transition from manuscript to print culture.

Experts in the field of rare books and bibliography recognize this catalog as a foundational reference for the study of early European printing. Scholars frequently cite the work for its meticulous detail and its essential role in navigating the Bodleian Library's extensive collection of incunabula.