It contains the apocryphal gospels, acts, epistles, and apocalypses with other narratives and fragments newly translated by Montague Rhodes James. The object of this volume is to give a comprehensive view of all that is meant by the phrase "the apocryphal literature of the New Testament." It contains fresh versions of all the really important texts, and full summaries, with extracts, of those which do not need to be translated word for word.

As books of history, they aim at supplementing the scanty data of the Gospels and Acts; and in this they may resemble many of the Jewish Midrashin and Apocrypha. They sometimes bear testimony to the currency of a tradition which has other and better evidence to support it.

This edition was published by Oxford University Press in 1924.