Overview
About Icelandic manuscripts
Texts and surviving objects
A manuscript is a handwritten object, and the date of that object may differ from the date when its text was first composed. Many medieval Icelandic works survive through later copies; some witnesses are only fragments or individual leaves. Comparing them helps scholars reconstruct textual transmission. The Arnamagnæan collection preserves an especially important body of sagas and historical documents, making the physical survival of books central to the study of Iceland's past.
Collecting and returning manuscripts
Árni Magnússon, born in 1663, gathered manuscripts from Iceland and elsewhere and bequeathed his collection to the University of Copenhagen. An agreement between Denmark and Iceland later divided the collection. Transfers to Iceland began in 1971 and ended in 1997, following photography and conservation work. Important holdings remain in both countries. UNESCO added the collection to its Memory of the World Register in 2009, recognizing its international documentary significance.
Article reviewed .
