Settle's printed poem has been pasted onto large pages and illuminated in an ornate style with architectural and armorial details. These designs are echoed in the binding, which is red morocco with dark blue onlay and decorated with gold and blind tooling. The item was conserved in the 20th century with its corners and spine repaired with brown calf.

it has been suggested that the binding is recycled from an earlier volume. The coats of arms are those of a man from the Savile family, ensigned by an earl's coronet, suggesting a date from 1679-1682, when the grandfather of Lady Dorothy Savile, Lord Burlington's wife, was Earl of Halifax.