A symposium on 9 May presenting the results of research carried out within four large research projects funded by the Icelandic Research Fund in 2010–15. The research projects are
- The People’s Printing Press: manuscript and book culture of later centuries (project manager: Matthew Driscoll);
- The cultural and social role of Icelandic manuscripts of poems and hymns after the Reformation (project manager: Margrét Eggertsdóttir);
- The poetry book of Rev. Ólafur Jónsson of Sandar: analysis, context, transmission (project manager: Árni Heimir Ingólfsson);
- The variance of Njáls saga (project manager: Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir).
What the projects have in common is that they deal with manuscripts and manuscript culture of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, but their subjects and approaches vary. The research topics include later manuscripts of Njáls saga, drawings and music in manuscripts, reception and transmission, occasional poems, self-taught scholars and scribes of the 19th century, and little-known Bible translations, as well as the social and cultural role of manuscripts of poetry, to name a few.
The research was carried out by the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, the Arnamagnæan Collection in Copenhagen and the Reykjavík Academy, with the participation of the National and University Library of Iceland. In all, 22 scholars and students took part in the projects.