本书分为古代文学、中世文学、近代文学三卷，共六十四章。作者首次把不为文人雅士所重视的唐、五代的变文，宋、元的戏文与诸宫调，元、明的讲史与散曲，明、清的短剧与民歌，以及宝卷、弹词、鼓词等，以三分之一的篇幅写进文学史，这些都是同时期其他书所未论及的。书中所附插图，大抵以宋以来的书籍里所附木版画为采撷主体，其次亦及于写本，颇为珍秘。该书是一部颇有特点的文学史专著。（This book is divided into three volumes themed ancient literature, middle age literature and modern literature, and further divided into 64 chapters in whole. One third of the chapters cover the genres unnoticed in Chinese literary world: Bianwen flourishing in Tang and the Five Dynasties, Nanxi and Zhugongdiao in Song and Yuan Dynasties, history-telling and Sanqu in Yuan and Ming Dynasties, short plays and folk songs in Ming and Qing Dynasties as well as Baojuan, Pingtan and Guci. All these genres have not been covered yet in other contemporary books. The illustrations attached herein are mostly adopted from woodcuts in books of and after Song Dynasty, as well from hand-copied books, giving it precious values. In summary, this is a distinctive monograph on history of literature.）