[1] Marvin was then a librarian at Harvard University and would later serve as the first California State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The Bibliography is in alphabetical by author, with a topical index, and includes evaluative comments on the works, drawing on numerous sources.
Despite the impression given by its short title, the Bibliography was an attempt to integrate other legal works into the Anglo-American tradition.
[2] In 1857, the Upper Canada Law Journal and Lower Courts Gazette said "Mr. Marvin's, Legal Bibliography, is by far the completest work of its kind we have had".
[4] In the Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting of the Virginia State Bar Association, this book was described as "good in its day, but now more than 40 years old".