[1][2] Abū al-Farāj claimed to have taken 50 years in writing the work, which ran to over 10,000 pages and contains more than 16,000 verses of Arabic poetry.

Due to the accompanying biographical annotations on the personages, the work is an important historical and historiographical source; it is also useful for those interested in the sociology of Arabic literature.

[4] The 14th-century historian Ibn Khaldūn called The Book of Songs the register of the Arabs: "It comprises all that they had achieved in past of excellence in every kind of poetry, history, music, etc.

[6] This edition was made in Mosul in around 1218–19 for the Zengid dynasty Governor Badr al-Dīn Lū'lū', who appears prominently in several of the miniatures.

Fictional Arab people South Arabian deities This article about an anthology of written works is a stub.