Titles, half-titles, special title-pages, etc. of original edition (published 1685-93) are counted as plates; the last 22 are anatomical plates.

The indexes have special t.-p.: Duo indices ad Synopsin methodicam conchyliorum Martini Lister ... Alter easdem complectitur juxta methodum celeberrimi Caroli.

The four books and the Appendices contain impressions of copper plates, each including from one to several figures and numbered up to 1059. There is no plate numbered 4, 89, 164, 195, 196, 222, 923, or 961, while there are three marked 101, and two each of those numbered 168, 512, 822, 846, 883, 931, 965, and 990.

The text (pp. iv, 6, 7, [iv], 12, 77) includes: A preface by the editor, some Notes and Observations written by Lister on a set of proof plates of the first edition, the "Tabularum anatomicarum explicatio," and the two Indices, which have a separate t.p.: Duo indices ad synopsin methodicam conchyliorum Martini Lister, M.D. quorum primus chonchyliorum classes exhibet eo ipso ordine in quo disponuntur a Listero.

The "Tabularum anatomicarum explicatio" contains 22 plates, of which plates 15, 16, and 18 are plates 195, 196, and 222 omitted in liber 3. This part has no title page but has seven pages of letterpress explanations. Plate 2 is dated 1693.