This collection of sources on the history of the Jews of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the eleventh to eighteenth centuries is one in a series of books concerned with the history of Polish Jewry published by the Żydowski Instytut Historyczny (Jewish Historical Institute) in Poland. Seven books are planned for this series; four have already been published. Fijałkowski's book is the only one that deals with the history of Polish Jewry before the partitions.

This source book, like the series as a whole, is designed as a reference-book for schools and has been included by the Polish Minister of Education on the list of history books for secondary schools. This new trend in the Polish Education Ministry, which includes the history of the Jews of Poland in the curriculum as an integral part of Polish history, is the result of both internal Polish processes and Israeli–Polish co-operation. These new curricula demand new textbooks that reflect up-to-date historical ideas. First and foremost, there is a need to gather existing source material, which until now has been scattered in many books and old publications, or even not published at all.

The majority of the seventy-three documents in this book are drawn from other reference-books and collections. Only three are printed here for the first time, two of which are taken from the archives of the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland. Of the latter, the first document (pp. 27‒8) is the privilege to build a synagogue in Lublin granted by King Władysław IV on 16 July 1636 to his court Jew Zwi Hirsh Doktorowicz. The second document (p. 95), dated 1664, is from the crown hetman, Stanisław Potocki, on the subject of pogroms against the Jews in Lwow, in which he defends the Jews. The third document (pp. 39‒40), taken from the Central Archives of Old Records in Warsaw (AGAD), is an agreement between the Jews and the townspeople of Myszczynów in 1778. These documents are presented in a concise fashion that suits the needs of the readers.

The collection is divided into four sections: (1) privileges, obligations, and prohibitions; (2) the internal life of the community; (3) means of existence; (4) the nature of coexistence.