The volume is titled (folio i) 'Manuscript Poems by several hands Most of which were never printed - 1751'. It contains copies made by Alexander Carlyle about 1800 (folio 19 verso) of poems written by and to him at various times between 1746 and 1800. Copies of other poems by and to him are written in another hand at folios 4 verso, 6 verso, and 20-33. Apart from a surviving gathering, all the leaves have been torn out after folio 33 and other leaves have probably been removed from other parts of the volume.