The manuscript exhibition World in Words was opened in Edda in November last year. The manuscripts need to be replaced regularly at the exhibition to ensure their preservation. The manuscript collection at the National and University Library of Iceland is a cooperation partner of the Árni Magnússon Institute and occasionally lends manuscripts to the exhibition. Four manuscripts from the library‘s manuscript collection are now on display and can be viewed there for the next three months.

The manuscripts are in the section of the exhibition that deals with human nature, in the section "Inside Out". In two of them, ÍBR 3 8vo and Lbs 1228 9vo, you can find Margrétar saga (the Life of St Margaret of Anitoch). Saint Margaret was the patron saint of women in childbirth. Manuscripts that contain the story are usually small to make it easier for midwives to travel with them and for women to keep them close during childbirth. It is not known who wrote Lbs 1228 8vo, but it is believed to have been written around 1775. A named woman whose identity we do not know, Sigríður Jónsdóttir, wrote the story of Margaret in ÍBR 3 8vo in 1773. At the back of the story she writes the words “These leaves are belong to me, Sigríður Jónsdóttir. Written in that year 1773.”

JS 109 8vo contains an educational text in dialog form where a disciple asks various questions concerning conception and birth and a master answers. The manuscript was written in the early years of the 18th century by an unknown scribe. Finally, the exhibition features a beautifully decorated manuscript by Jakob Sigurðsson (1727–1779), Lbs 781 4to, on astrology and palmistry, written in 1759. Jakob is generally considered one of the greatest artistic scribes of his time. Despite poverty and no education, he transcribed many manuscripts, some of which are artistically decorated.

The following pictures of the manuscripts were taken by Sigurður Stefán Jónsson photographer at Árnastofnun.