Vísnakver Fornólfs (Poetry Book of Fornólfur) was published in 1923. The book is a good example of increased imagery in publishing after printmaking became possible in Iceland after 1919 – and 20 copies of the book are printed on a drawing paper with hand drawn drawings. The author of the book is Jón Þorkelsson’s forni [1859-1924] who was known for his work as a national archivist for many years. Jón worked as an acedemic and a writer in Copenhagen until 1898, when he moved to Reykjavík. For a while he was a parliamentarian and, in addition, the president of the History Society since its establishment in 1902 and president of the Literature Society from 1918. Jon wrote books and articles about the history of Icelanders and literature, and was responsible for the publication of a variety of literature from the past centuries and several poetry books and editorial work of several journals. The author of the images was Björn (Björnstjerne) Björnsson [1886-1939], a goldsmith and artist. The printmaking was made by Ólafur Hvanndal (1879-1954), who was a pioneer in printmaking in Iceland. The publisher was Ársæll Árnason (1886-1961) who also took care of the bookbinding. Ársæll studied bookbinding in Germany and worked as a bookbinder for a while Sweden. He worked at the National Library in 1914-1916 and subsequently founded his own bookbinders workshop. The book was printed at Gutenberg in Reykjavík. The book is on display at the Culture House until July 2, 2019.
Vísnakver Fornólfs (Poetry Book of Fornólfur) can be viewed on baekur.is
