The manuscripts were submitted to Smith Elder and Company to be considered for publication. It is uncertain whether any of the submissions were published.

That the manuscripts are of genres - poems, short stories, essays - well suited to publication in a magazine might suggest that they were intended for the consideration of the Editor of the "Cornhill Magazine". However, as there are no indications on the manuscripts to support this, they have been treated as submissions to Smith Elder and Company collectively.

The manuscripts are arranged as follows: MS.32002: named authors, surnames A-H; MS.32003: named authors, surnames K-S, and unidentified.