Benedikt Sigurður Þórarinsson (1861–1940), a merchant in Reykjavík, gave his library to the University of Iceland in 1935, and it was handed over in 1941. The collection holds about 8,000 volumes, newspapers, journals and various ephemera included. Benedikt also owned a large collection of press cuttings and postcards. His collection contains many rare books; he made a point of acquiring travel books and foreign works about Iceland, and his collection of Icelandic literature from the 19th and 20th centuries is also large and remarkable. Benedikt’s bookplate, drawn by the sculptor Ríkarður Jónsson, is in every bound item in the collection. In its day, Benedikt’s collection was the largest private collection of Icelandic books. It is kept in a room of its own in the special collections area.