Selection of just 10 out of over one million items collected at the Gdańsk Library is an extremely difficult task. What criteria to choose? What should be given priority: uniqueness, artistic value or perhaps scientific significance? The items we have chosen seem to more than satisfy all the above requirements – they are spectacular in every respect. They astonish with their artistry, are unique sources for researchers and reflect the state of knowledge of the past epochs; above all, they have a distinguished Gdańsk provenance and concern the city itself.

Zofia Tylewska-Ostrowska