The Swedish Collection is built on two gifts of books from the Swedish parliament, the first in 1930 for the 1,000th anniversary of Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament, and the second in 1974, when 1,100 years of settlement in Iceland were commemorated. These are Swedish works relating to Iceland, together with Swedish literature and works on Swedish cultural history.
On 1 December 1994 the National and University Library of Iceland received the Swedish family history Hallwylska samlingen, in 67 volumes, as a gift from the Nordic House.