Manuscripts and private archives

The Manuscript Collection is on the 1st floor of Þjóðarbókhlaða, the library building at Arngrímsgata 3. It holds about 15,000 manuscripts and about 1,300 private archives. Catalogues of the holdings are on this page, and you can also contact us with questions about material in our keeping. Material is fetched from the Library’s secure storage twice a day, so orders must be in by 9:30 and 13:30. You can order by phoning 525 5678, by e-mailing handrit (at) landsbokasafn.is or in person. The Manuscript Collection’s page on Facebook is another way to follow its work.

On the website handrit.is you can see part of the holdings, with catalogue records and images. The website einkaskjol.is has information about the private archives held by the Manuscript Collection. New material is added to both websites all the time. The Manuscript Collection also accepts manuscripts and private archives of every kind that people have in their keeping. We encourage anyone who owns old documents to contact us about preserving them.