The British Library has released the shortlist for its Hidden Treasures contest: public libraries from around the UK were invited to submit interesting items from their collections, and the BL will choose four (one each from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) to digitize and host on the main BL website. The four winners will be chosen next month.
The Guardian reports on the shortlist, nothing that it "includes priceless medieval manuscripts from Renfrewshire, Exeter, and Hereford, and a psalter dating back to around 1250 from Blackburn. There is also an 18th century atlas of Ireland from Armagh. One of the funniest and most poignant entries came from Dorset, a wartime record made by the Dorset Federation of Women's Institutes, illustrated with original watercolours showing evacuees bemused at rural life, long gossipy queues at a vegetable stall, and the spirit of a cow floating in the clouds over Charmouth, having unfortunately trodden on a landmine."
All of the shortlisted entrants are listed here.
[Via Shelf:Life]
