The Greek author Diogenes Laertius is best known for the present text, known in English as the Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. It is generally appreciated as an uncritical recording of valuable primary source material (otherwise now lost to us) on the Greek philosophers. The earliest, most complete surviving manuscript copies of the work derive from the 11th and 12th centuries, and this present edition was the first printed copy, albeit in a Latin translation. The first complete Greek edition would not be printed until 1533.

This edition was printed by the Frenchman Nicolaus Jenson, who was the first non-German printer of whom we know, printing in Venice from 1470. He had been a die-cutter and Master of the French Mint at Tours, before reputedly being sent to Mainz to spy out the new printing technology by the French King Charles VII. He created one of the earliest Roman fonts, based on the humanistic hand of the period.

Bound in full grained leather (goat skin), sewn on 5 sewing stations with laced on boards, 5 raised bands and a double headband.