The aims of Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile are to provide scholars throughout the world with the means of consulting primary sources of information about the civilisation of England in the Middle Ages without the need for long journeys to distant libraries, and also by the high quality of reproduction to reduce to a minimum the amount of handling to which the priceless and often delicate originals are subject.

The emphasis is placed upon pre-Conquest England, from which period the volumes have been chosen to represent the varied range of Anglo-Saxon civilisation as fully as possible, with the result that they exhibit no less than a cross-section of Anglo-Saxon achievement. They include poetry, works of King Alfred and his contemporaries, an Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, illuminated Gospel Books and Psalters, Bible translation, the earliest manuscript of the Benedictine Rule, the earliest examples of English lexicography, computistical, astronomical, and geographical material, a rare example of a monastic Liber Vitae, as well as legal, liturgical, medical, and homiletic works.

Many of the manuscripts have superb decoration, which is well-represented in colour plates and each volume is provided with a thorough and authoritative introduction by leading scholars in the field.