The manuscript Lbs 937 8vo contains fragments of an essay and drawings by the well-known vagrant Sölvi Helgason. Sölvi was born on 16 August 1820 in Skagafjörður. As a child he was placed on various farms, and at about 16 he took to the roads as a vagrant. In 1843 he was arrested for carrying a forged travel pass and was convicted of that offence. He received more sentences during his life, usually for vagrancy and theft. Sölvi died on 27 November 1895.
The essay fragments in Lbs 937 8vo fill 32 leaves and are mostly on geographical subjects. They show Sölvi’s unique handwriting, one of the finest hands ever seen. On a single leaf 17.5 cm long Sölvi fits 59 lines. Each line has roughly 10–15 words, so there are an estimated 750 words or more on the page. By comparison, an ordinary word-processing document fits about 550 words on an A4 sheet (30 cm long) with single line spacing.
Among the drawings in the manuscript are several self-portraits of Sölvi.
Sölvi’s flower drawings are known to most Icelanders. On the back of some of the pictures there is text, often unrelated to the picture, as Sölvi used every bit of paper.
Click the picture to view the manuscript on handrit.is.
The exhibition Utangarðs? (Outsiders?) is now on in Þjóðarbókhlaða, the library building at Arngrímsgata 3, and among other things it shows works by Sölvi. The exhibition, which runs until 25 September, is about outsiders from the second half of the 18th century to the first years of the 20th century. The exhibition is open every weekday 9:00–17:00 and on Saturdays 10:00–14:00.