On folio ii is a contents list by Lord Auchinleck, which gives the present state of the manuscript; on folios iii-iv are John Asloan's own list, with the items numbered, from which it appears that large parts of the original have been lost.

The present contents are:

John of Ireland, on penance and confession (folio 1, numbers i-xii);

'The buke of ye chess', a metrical translation of the treatise of Jacobus de Cassolis (folio 41, number xii [repeated]);

'The cart of the world', derived from John of Trevisa's translation of 'Polychronicon' by Ranulf Higden, book 1, chapters 5-7, 11, 9 (folio 77, number xiii);

'Portuous of nobleness' (folio 86, number xiiii);

'The Scottis originale' (folio 93, number xv);

'Part of ye Ynglis chronicle' (folio 99, number xvi);

Folio 108 blank;

'Ane schort memoriale of ye Scottis corniklis for addicioun' (folio109, number xviii);

'Ye Scottis cronikle' (folio 124, number xvii);

'The spektakle of luf’, translated from Latin, perhaps by G Myll (folio 137, number xix);

'Ye sex wekdays according to ye sex agis' (folio 151, number xx);

'Ye sevyne sagis', a metrical version from a Latin prose 'Historia septem sapientum' (folio 167, number xxi);

'The Justis betuix ye talzeour & ye soutar' by William Dunbar (folio 210, number xxii);

'Ye fenzeit falss frer of Tungland' (end missing) by William Dunbar (folio 211 verso, number xxiii);

'Ye howlat' [by Richard Holland] (folio 213, number 1);

'The fyvebestis' (beginning missing) (folio 229, number li);

'The twa mys' [by Robert Henryson] (folio 236, number lii);

'The crying of ane playe' (end missing) [by William Dunbar?] (folio 240, number liii);

'Orpheus and Erudices' [by Robert Henryson] (folio 247, number lv);

'The thre prestis of Peblis' (end missing) (folio 257, number lvi);

'The contemplacioun of synnaris' by [William of Tours] (folio 263, number lvii; lacuna after folio 278);

'The passioun of Jhesu' by William Dunbar (folio 290 verso, number lviii);

'Ane ballat of our lady' (end missing) [by Geoffrey Chaucer?] (folio 292, number lix);

'The maying and disport of Chauceir' [i.e. 'The complaynt of the Black Knight' by John Lydgate] (folio 293, number lx);

'Diuerss ballatis of our ladye', the first anonymous, the second by Walter Kennedy, and the third by William Dunbar (folios 301, 301 verso, 303, numbers lxi-lxiii).

Several of these, especially the prose, are unique; many of the poems are also in the Bannatyne and other manuscripts, but this is often the earliest extant copy; numbers xiii, Iv and lx were printed by Chepman and Myllar.

Folios or gatherings have been lost after folios 111, 116 and 120 (number xviii middle), 212 (numbers xxiii end, xxiv-xlix), 228 (number li beginning), 242 (numbers liii end, liv), 262 (number lvi end), 278 (number lvii middle), 292 (number lix end), and 304 (numbers lxiii-lxxi). Among the items totally lost are several further poems of Henryson (including 'The testament of Cresseid' and further fables) and Dunbar (including the flyting with Kennedy and 'The derige of Edinburgh and Striuling'), 'The regiment of kingis with ye buke of phisnomy', 'Rauf coilyear', and various ballads. Folio 53 is a seventeenth- century substitution.

The principal scribe frequently gives his name at the end of items, generally in the form John (Johannes) Asloan (folios 40 verso, 92 verso, 106 verso, 209 verso, 228 verso, 234 verso, 290 , 300 verso), but once Sloane (folio 76 verso). On folios 40 verso and 76 verso the formula is 'per manum ...' and on folio 290 'by ye hand of…’; this suggests that 'per M. ...' in the other cases stands for 'per manum' and not as might be expected 'per Magistrum', and this is confirmed by folio 228 verso where 'Johannis' in the genitive follows.

The date of writing is inferred from the addition of James V’s name to a mention of the king on folio 95 and from the terminal date, 1513, of number xviii. The scribe is plausibly identified by C C van Buuren-Veenenbos, ‘English studies’, volume 47, pages 365-372, with a notary active in Edinburgh from 1497 to 1530. Folios 137-150 are in a different hand; at the end is 'per M G Myll'; the analogy of John Asloan's subscriptions suggests that G Myll is the scribe, not (or at least not necessarily) the translator.

There is rubrication of titles, initials, and Latin quotations in numbers i, vii, xii (2), xxi (beginning), Iv, and Ivi (beginning) only. On folios 4, 52 verso, 77 , 93, 175, 179 verso, 188 verso, and 195 verso rubricated initials E, I and T cut from a vellum manuscript have been pasted in place.

Paper (watermarks: gatherings 1-2 wheel, cf. Briquet 13519; 1, 7-12 R, crown and two fleur-de-lys in shield, cf. Briquet 8987; 3 unicorn, cf. Briquet 10405; 4, 6 wheel, cf. Briquet 13370; 5 gothic P, cf. Briquet 8702; 13-18 coat of arms with three fleur-de-lys, cf. Briquet 1748, Piccard xiii.1550-2; 19-20 similar, cf. Briquet 1774; 21 coat of arms with one fleur-de-lys, cf. Briquet 1613; 21 unicorn in two versions, cf. Piccard x.2205 and 2206; all apparently from north-east France or the Netherlands, early 16th century).

The present condition of the manuscript dates from the early nineteenth century, when it was treated by the Edinburgh bookbinder Abram Thomson, whose label is on a front endpaper. He repaired the original leaves, trimmed them (the folio numbers on folios 87, 93 and 214 and capitals in various places are partially cut off), and inlaid them singly in paper watermarked 1804 to 1812 (the great majority 1811); folios 112-113 were correctly placed after folio 118 and blank sheets inserted at seven points where gaps had been noticed. He dealt similarly with the Bannatyne manuscript (Adv.MS.1.1.6) a few years later.