Published quarterly, at first in Rome and then in London and New York, TR was known for its eclectic mix of short stories and poetry—by both young, previously unpublished writers and prominent authors such as Samuel Beckett, Iris Murdoch, Grace Paley and John Updike—as well as drawings, essays, and interviews with writers and theater and film directors.

Prize-winners included Paul Ableman, Diana Athill, Gavin Ewart, Giles Gordon, D. M. Thomas, Jerry Stahl, Jay Jeff Jones, Trevor Hoyle, Patrick Hughes and Steve Barthelme.

It included work by Charles Bukowski, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg, Louis Zukofsky, George Oppen, Jonathan Williams, Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, Harold Norse and Lou Reed.

After a decade, McCrindle selected the magazine's best for his Stories from the Transatlantic Review (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970; Penguin, 1974), an anthology that included Paul Bowles, Jerome Charyn, Bruce Jay Friedman, Penelope Gilliatt, William Goldman and Joyce Carol Oates.

The second issue had only one, by Jean Cocteau, but illustration soon became a staple item, usually unrelated to the text but in some cases complementing short stories or articles.

Contributors of illustration included Dylan Thomas, Peter Farmer, Elaine de Kooning, Daniel Mroz, Mervyn Peake, Patrick Procktor, Kaffe Fassett, Mike McGear, Heathcote Williams, John(H) Howard, Larry Rivers, Mabel Pakenham-Walsh and Colin Spencer.