The object of this edition is to collect in a form convenient to English readers the remains of some of the apocryphal writings connected with the Old Testament which have not survived in their entirety. It is impossible in most cases to assign anything like a precise date to these writings. It would not be far out to say that most of them were produced in the period of the first century B.C.E. and the first century C.E. The sources of information about them are mainly of two kinds: lists of books and quotations.

This edition was published by The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 1920.