From fifth-century Babylonia to modern-day Tel Aviv, 101 Treasures offers a thematic journey through the rich and diverse collections of the National Library of Israel. Selected by the Library’s curators and collections experts, this book showcases the most precious, poignant, and surprising items in its holdings. The 101 treasures featured in this book all share one essential feature: they allow us to tell great stories: How writer A. B. Yehoshua nearly abandoned his greatest novel; the simple trick that made it possible to return thousands of Nazi-looted books to their Jewish owners; the Ottoman Sultan who excelled as a poet; and how Franz Kafka’s manuscripts and drawings made their way from a Swiss bank vault to Jerusalem.

Exquisite photographs illustrate these and other stories, and introductory essays place the Library’s rare books, manuscripts, archives, newspapers, posters, and musical recordings within their cultural and historical contexts.

101 Treasures launches a journey filled with the dramatic and the unexpected, eliciting our surprise and wonder and leading us on to further discovery and learning.