Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1996, Page 135

UMVEFSTÓLA A ÍSLANDI Á 18. ÖLD
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Having studied the manuscript, the present author is of the opinion that the
description was written in Denmark in 1760 (see notes 2, 3 and 12), where Hannes
Finnson resided in the years 1755-1767 with the exception of a short journey to Iceland
during the summer 1758. It is therefore likely that he is describing a Danish loom (cf.
Figure 5), and it is uncertain that the type of loom which he describes was known in
Iceland. The present author finds no reason to consider that Hannes Finnsson’s loom
description applies to looms in the Innréttingar (the state financed woollen mills establis-
hed in Reykjavík in 1752), or to the loom at Skálholt from about 1722; neither that it
applies to the horizontal looms which later became common in Iceland (cf. Figure 1).
This type of horizontal looms, considered about 1900 to be the oldest kind in Iceland,
relate to professional German looms of the eighteenth century and later (cf. Figure 2),
but is quite different from common Danish looms (cf. Figure 5), looms of a kind not
known in Iceland from earlier days.