It is arranged in sections, beginning with history and geography, then poetry, followed by prose writings, and a final extensive section on arts and sciences, including grammar, linguistics, history of art, philosophy, politics and political history, mathematics, and astronomy. The format of the cited books is given, in addition to some indication of rarity and advice on the best edition. A much enlarged edition was published in Milan in 1771-72 by Federico Giandonati, and the work was the standard bibliography of Italian literature until the nineteenth century. It served as a model for Giuseppe Baretti's "The Italian Library" (London, 1757); some claimed that Baretti "pillaged" Haym's work.