The book is not currently published and exists in manuscript form in theAl-Zahiriyah Library inDamascus,Syria. The author ordered his work by mentioning theCompanions first, beginning with theten promised paradise, and then moving on to theFollowers, beginning with those named Muhammad and so on. It is four volumes long in manuscript form.
Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Mizzi compiled, edited and abridged this work naming it,Tahdhib Al-Kamal fi Asma' Al-rijal. According to the numbering system of the editor of the published.............. edition, Dr. Bashar 'Awwad Ma'roof, it contains the biographies of 8,640 narrators, includingCompanions. It has recently been published in both eight volumes and 35 byMu'assasah al-Risalah in Beirut, Lebanon; the first edition was 1998. The names of the biography subjects are arranged in alphabetical order in contrast to the original work.
Further, one of al-Mizzi's gifted pupils,Al-Dhahabi, summarised his teacher's work and produced two abridgements: a longer one calledTadhhib al-Tahdhib and a shorter one calledAl-Kashif fi Asma' Rijal al-Kutub al-Sittah.[1]
A similar effort to the work of al-Mizzi was made byIbn Hajar, who prepared a lengthy but abridged version, with about one-third of the original omitted, entitledTahdhib al-Tahdhib[2] It is currently published in numerous editions, most notably inIndia in twelve volumes. Later, he abridged this further in a brief work entitledTaqrib al-Tahdhib[3] mentioning only basic biographical information, such as name, era, date of death and the author's conclusion regarding that narrator'sstanding as a narrator.[1]
The work of al-Mizzi was again serviced by Safi al-Din Ahmad b. 'Abdullah al-Khazraji (d. after 923) who abridged al-Dhahabi's work,Tadhhib al-Tahdhib, making valuable additions, producing hisKhulasah al-Tathhib.[1]
Tahdhib al-Tahdhib at Wikisource.