This is the first of three projected volumes. In this first volume, the chronological catalogue raisonné is followed by 19 chapters, each focusing on a single year of the artist's life, up to his return from Great Britain in 1863. Anthony Speiser authored the biographical texts and Kenneth Maddox compiled the catalogue raisonné of over 800 paintings. The publication also includes a foreword by Barbara Newington, Cropsey's great-granddaughter. Future supplements to the catalogue will cover newly discovered or reinterpreted works.