This eight-volume set, published 1817-58 by the Nichols family, is a sequel to John Nichols' Literary Anecdotes (1812-15), and provides a useful source of biographical material on authors and publishers at a time when many of the literary genres we now take for granted were first being developed.

"The Catalogue ... has been prepared with a view to accomplish two objects. One, to offer an inventory of all the books on the shelves of the Reference Department of the Manchester Free Library: the other, to supply ... a ready Key both to the subjects of the books, and to the names of the authors." - v. 1, the compiler to the reader.