Zef Jubani was born in 1818 in Shkodër, Ottoman Empire, to a notable merchant family from the nearby village of Juban.

In 1858 part of his work was published in the Histoire et description de la Haute Albanie ou Guegarie written by Hyacinthe Hecguard, then French consul of Shkodër.

[3] The original texts of the folk songs documented by Jubani included in Hecguard's work were lost on 13 January 1866 during a flood in Shkodër.

[3] The book was published along with two political and philosophical studies of Jubani the Current situation of the population of northern Albania (Albanian: Gjendja aktuale e popullit të Shqiperisë së Veriut) and Thoughts on the moral situation and intellectual culture of the Albanian people (Albanian: Kundrime mbi gjëndjen morale dhe mbi kulturën intelektuale të popullit shqiptar), which were introductory to his main work.

Jubani's political philosophy was influenced largely by classical liberalism and anti-clericalism during his travels in Malta and Italy.