Today Sverrir Guðmundsson and Þórdís Ingvarsdóttir presented the National and University Library of Iceland with three books by Halldór Laxness that the author signed for Nikólína Árnadóttir almost 100 years ago.
In Grikklandsárið (The Greek Year), Halldór’s fourth book of childhood memoirs, published in 1980, he relates that Nikólína played a large part in the making of the books Þú vínviður hreini and Fuglinn í fjörunni, which were later published together under the name Salka Valka.
The inscriptions confirm this, especially the one in Þú vínviður hreini, where Halldór thanks Nikkelín, as she was called, for the hymn, in which the words Þú vínviður hreini (O thou pure vine) occur, and for the trunta (the old nag): Halldór created the character Þórdís Sigurkarlsdóttir, Todda trunta, from stories Nikólína told about people and events in the Salvation Army in Ísafjörður.
Nikólína’s first husband was the poet Jóhann Jónsson, a close friend of Halldór Laxness, and Nikólína became a good friend of Halldór in the years after 1920, when Halldór was maturing as a writer. The three books Halldór signed and gave her are Kaþólsk viðhorf (Catholic Views) from 1925, Þú vínviður hreini from 1931 and Fuglinn í fjörunni from 1932. The inscriptions are very significant, because they confirm Nikólína’s decisive influence on the making of the story of Salka Valka, and they also give an insight into how Halldór worked when writing it.
After Jóhann and Nikólína divorced, she married Sören Sörensen, a doctor, who kept her belongings after her death in 1935 for the rest of his life. The books then passed to Sören’s heirs, who have now decided to give them to the Library.
In the picture are National Librarian Ingibjörg Steinunn Sverrisdóttir; Steingrímur Jónsson, who took the initiative for the donation; Sverrir Guðmundsson and Þórdís Ingvarsdóttir.