Highlight of the month

Guðmundur Jónsson. Sumar-Giøf handa Børnum. Leirárgörðum 1795. A reader for children aged 5–10, translated from Danish by Rev. Guðmundur Jónsson (1763–1836) and published in 1795. The book takes the form of a conversation between a father and his children, in which he persuades them to give up their bad habits and superstitions. The book also…

Rev. Björn Halldórsson (1724–1794) of Sauðlauksdalur wrote a book for housewives in 1770, Arnbjörg (Arnbjörg, an honourable good woman of the Westfjords of Iceland). According to Björn, a good housewife should be God-fearing and free of all superstition; she should look after the home well, and be well-mannered and a good wife who supports her…

Ihara Saikaku (1642–1693) The writer Ihara Saikaku began his career as a haikai poet and brought much of the light-hearted wordplay and free association of that genre into his fiction. His works capture the urban culture of Edo and its coarse energy. The Life of an Amorous Man is the first ukiyo zôshi (novel of…

Atli edr Raadagiørdir Yngismañs um Bwnad sinn : helst um Jardar- og Qvikfiaar-Rækt Atferd og Agooda med Andsvari gamals Bónda : Samanskrifad fyri Faatækis Frumbylinga, einkanlega þaa sem reisa Bw aa Eydi-Jørdum Anno 1777. This book is regarded as one of the main literary works of the Icelandic Enlightenment. Its author, Rev. Björn Halldórsson (1724–1794)…

Ein Ny Wiisna Bok (Ein ný vísnabók, A new book of verse) was published by Guðbrandur Þorláksson in 1612. The book contains religious and didactic poetry. The aim of the publication was to reduce the influence of secular poetry among ordinary people. Guðbrandur had many of the leading religious poets of the day write poems…

A fragment of the most famous work of Jón lærði Guðmundsson (Jón the Learned, 1574–1658); despite his by-name, Jón was self-taught. The manuscript is the author’s original, written some time in 1640–1644, and it has many pictures of whales: some of them accurate likenesses, while others owe more to the author’s imagination. Jón’s text was…

Arngrímur Jónsson lærði (Arngrímur the Learned, 1568–1648) was headmaster of the school at Hólar and assistant priest at Hólar Cathedral. Brevis commentarivs de Islandia is the first book written by an Icelander for the specific purpose of informing foreigners about the country and its people, and at the same time pointing out exaggerations, generalisations and…

Jónsbók is a law book that came into force in 1281 and is named after Jón Einarsson (d. 1306). Jónsbók survives in a great many manuscripts: over 260 are preserved. Some of the provisions of Jónsbók are still in force. This copy was written at Hólar in 1681, on good paper with wide margins; it…

Around the turn of the century the psychologist and philosopher Guðmundur Finnbogason (1873-1944) worked as an educational advisor for the authorities. He travelled in Scandinavia in the years 1901-1902 where he gathered information’s about education in those countries. Based on his finding he wrote Lýðmenntun, where he talks about the value of compulsory education and…

Kringlublaðið (the Kringla leaf) is a single vellum leaf written around 1260. It is the only surviving leaf of a manuscript called Kringla, which burned in Copenhagen in 1728. The manuscript contained the kings’ sagas known as Heimskringla. Their author was the poet and politician Snorri Sturluson (1178–1241). The leaf was found in the Royal…

Many Icelanders emigrated to North America in the last decades of the 19th century and came to know societies very different from the Icelandic one. They met new customs and a public debate that had grown out of the gender and class struggles of an industrial society that had not yet taken firm root in…

in Ný matreiðslubók (A New Cookbook) December is the darkest month of the year, but it also brings more light and longer days. Since ancient times people have celebrated the occasion with feasting and drinking. It is always welcome news when new cookbooks are published that make it easier to cook and to brew good…