We know very little about Shota Rustaveli as a personality, but his book itself introduces the author to us as one of the most educated persons of the period, and we come to know hin as a great philosopher, humanist and poet. He was an important stateman at Queen Tamar’s court, Grand Vizier ( a position similar to Chancellor of the Exchequer) and the owner of Rustavi town. Having been brought up in a Christian envirorment and tradition, he expressed the ideology of a powerful feudal state.

According to the anniversary edition of 1966, poem consists of a 1686 rhymed, 16 syllable, four-line stanzas – prologue, sixty-one chapters and epilogue.

"The man in the Panther’s Skin" was first published in Tbilisi in 1712 by King Vakhtang VI together with his commentaries. The whole text was translated into English prose by the great friend of Georgie, Marjory Wardrop (published in 1912) and into Russian verse by a well-known poet Konstantin Balmont (published in 1933).

Illustrations were designed by famouse painter Sergo Kobuladze (1909-1978).