In 1935 Einar Benediktsson (1864–1940), poet and editor, gave the University of Iceland the farm Herdísarvík together with his library and furniture, in memory of his father. The books were not moved to the University Library until March 1950, and they were kept in storage there until the library moved into Þjóðarbókhlaða, the library building at Arngrímsgata 3. Einar’s library consists mostly of history, together with Greek and Latin books and works on classical literature. The books are almost all in foreign languages, and most of them were printed before 1850, a great many in the 17th and 18th centuries and a few in the 16th.