This biographical dictionary includes 226 biograms of editors in chief journalists executive editors and co-workers that were also described as editors. It is based on research data as well as records in ecclesiastical and state archives, libraries and registry offices. The individual lives are presented in accordance with the customary biogram template.

The biographies of the journalists of Polish press published in West Prussia in the 19th and early 20th century usually highlight their patriotic commitment and admirable perseverance in launching and running various newspapers and journals. However, we can also find in their lives episodes that did them little credit, or even were downright disgraceful.

Until 1914 editors of Gazeta Gdańska were taken to court on thirty occasions and were sentenced to a total of RM 2,430 in fines and eight months and three weeks of imprisonment. Of the fifteen editors taken to court, Józef Konstanty Palędzki i Stanisław Wentowski came out with most convictions.

Throughout its publishing history (1850–1866) the editors of the Nadwiślanin, a weekly published at Chełmno (Kulm) in Royal Prussia, were the target of harassment by the Prussian police, prosecutors and courts. Print runs of the magazine were often seized, the editors taken to court and sentenced to fines and terms of imprisonment.