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Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 20316, 15 August 1931, Page 13

The Austrian monastery of Kt. FJorian, at Linz, the capital of Upper Austria, has recently sold an illustrated Book of Psalms, written in Latin, Ger man, and Polish, and dating from the fourteenth century, to the Polish Government for £14,500, through the good offices of Dr. Bader, the Polish Ambassador in Vienna. This MS. is of high value for Poland, since it represents one of the most ancient specimens of Polish literature. .Its value is enhanced by the fact that it was compiled on behalf of the Polish Queen Hedvig, the wife of King Vladislav Yagello, the first crowned head of that dynasty, and formerly a prince of Lithuania. The last pages of the Book of Psalms seem to have been written in a great hurry, for it was a present of homage to the bridal Quen on hei arrival at the Court of Vladislav. After various adventures, the MS. was stolen during u conflagration. The thief sold it. and finally it became the properly of the St. Florinn Monastery. When the •''Week-Encl IJcview" lirat impeured. its "Out of J)oor" pa«e from week to week printed selections from Gilbert White's Journal, which-had remained unpublished—though occasiondrawn 01 by editors of the "Natural History of Selborne during the four generations and more since its last entries were ret down. At tho same time, Mr Walter Johnson was preparing Ins recently issued edition ot' tho Journals. It is odd that their interest, although neglected tor more tliuu .130 vein's, should simultaneously have attracif'l two quite independent parties.