Here is a convenient source of commentary on the careers and works of acclaimed poets, novelists, short story writers, dramatists and philosophers who died between 1800 and 1899. Each volume presents overviews of four to eight authors with chronologically arranged criticism representing the entire range of response to each author. Entries typically include an author portrait, an introduction to the author, a primary bibliography, annotated criticism and an annotated list of further reading sources. Approximately 90-95% of critical essays are full text.

Every fourth volume is a Topics volume covering major literary movements, trends and other topics related to nineteenth-century literature. Volumes include author, nationality, topic and title indexes; a cumulative title index to the entire series is published separately.