In 2015, the Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum moved to online open access for previous editions while continuing to produce the current volume in print for sale through the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies.
The Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum is intended to illustrate the transmission of the ideas, and the influence, of ancient Greek and Latin authors (up to a.d. 600) during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (up to a.d. 1600).
In terms of the purpose of the Catalogus, the list of Latin translations helps to establish the facts about the gradual reception of ancient Greek material in the West up to a.d. 1600.
Hence a study of the fortunes and influence of any Greek author in the West must begin with an investigation of the existence and relative merit of the Latin translations of his works.
The general aims of the Catalogus Translationum et Commentariorum, which have been followed to this date, are set out in the 1958 Preface to Volume I,[2] by its founder and first Executive Editor Paul Oskar Kristeller of Columbia University.