The codicological analysis of the folio manuscript is entrusted to Gianluca M. Millesoli, an expert in liturgical book palaeography. The commentary is also supplemented with contributions from Carlo M. Ossola – on the Bible as a ‘Book of Books’ – and Rita Angela Carbonaro – on the history of the Biblioteche Riunite “Civica e A. Ursino Recupero” in Catania. The commentary, consisting of more than 200 pages, also contains 58 out-of-text colour plates. It is also worth noting that as much as 48% of Italy’s entire heritage is to be found in Southern Italy (also known as “Mezzogiorno”), although this wealth is hardly ever given the exposure it deserves and runs the risk of not being adequately protected. When it came to reproducing a codex of such great importance and immeasurable value in a facsimile version, Treccani set itself a goal, that is, to come up with new ways and ideas to ensure that masterpieces such as the Cavallini Bible can be handed down to future generations and become more widely known outside the circle of specialists.
The facsimile is printed in four colours with Bigamut wide-colour space technique, application of gold-coloured foil, machine reworking for special colours (whites, effects, patina on the golds and opacifiers) on Luxor parchment paper by Cartiere Fedrigoni. Hand folded and sewn, with a two-tone headband hand-sewn on the book block. The cover is in red cotton velvet; on the front cover, the corners and the centre feature gold-plated bronze casting with a completely hand-shaded patina; a lapis lazuli is set in antiqued metal in the centre; the motif used for the corners is repeated on the back cover. The facsimile and commentary are contained in a clamshell box covered in silk, with velvet interiors and a compartment for the commentary, bound in parchment paper with gold print on the front cover. Print run of 699 hand-numbered copies plus 10 unnumbered copies.