Bequest to Bessastaðaskóli 1805

A micro-exhibition has been opened at the Icelandic Museum, “Donum Therkelsen,” which translates as “Therkelsen’s Gift.” It contains a sample of books and manuscripts that Jón Therkselsen (1774-1805) gave to Bessastaðaskóli in 1805. This 220-year-old bequest is particularly interesting because there is considerable documentation about the events leading up to it, but Jón was only thirty years old when he died. He was studying in Copenhagen when he fell ill and it quickly became clear what he was heading towards. He therefore compiled a will in which he bequeathed around 300 books and several manuscripts to Bessastaðaskóli. This was a very large gift, as Jón had acquired numerous books from the eighteenth century and even earlier, including works by ancient Greek philosophers. Jón also suggested that with the value of the clothes he left behind, more books could be purchased for the school "by good Latin authors," as he put it.

In a letter he wrote in the summer of 1805 to his friend, Steingrímur Jónsson, later bishop (1769-1845), he wrote: "My mental and physical powers, especially the latter, are now completely gone, so I expect my death every day. I have made my will, and in it all my reference books and manuscripts for that Icelandic Latin school. They amount to about 300 volumes and could be placed in a side cabinet, and perhaps written on the door: Don Therkelsen, for the encouragement of others to change hereafter, not for my praise." Jón's books went to the library of Bessastaðaskóli after his death, later to the Lærðir School and finally to the National Library at the beginning of the 20th century.