Árbók Landsbókasafns Íslands - Nýr flokkur - 01.01.1991, Page 147

ENGLISH SUMMARY
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Jónsson (1909-1985). He was a librarian in the Reykjavík Public Library for 27
years, but he was also widely known for other interests and activities: He was an
outstanding photographer, and his landscape photographs in particular have
been published in numerousbooks andjournals; he travelled a great deal, and his
work for the Icelandic Touring Club for decades included editing its yearbook
for 15 years; and he was a dedicated collector of books, and had acquired a huge
amount of experience in that fíeld. His library of several thousand volumes,
bequeathed to the Borgarfjörður Public Library, is particularly strong in the
fields of Icelandic studies, Icelandic literature and poetry in particular, the
nature and topography of Iceland, and old and rare books and other printed
items that are remarkable in any way, such as variant or numbered editions and
autographed copies. An important characteristic of this collection is its quality
both as regards the careful selection of items and the beauty of the copies, often
bound by the collector himself.
Finnbogi Guðmundsson: Tvö gömul erfiljóð Stephans G. Stephanssonar.
Landsbókasafn íslands. Árbók. Nýrflokkur 15 (1989). Rv. 1991, pp. 104-111.
Several autograph poems written by Stephan G. Stephansson (1853—1927), the
well-known poet, were presented to the National Library in the summer of 1989.
They belong to Stephansson’s “early poems” and are not found (i.e. in this
original form) in the collected edition of his poems, Andvökur I-IV (Rv.
1953-1958). Two of the poems are printed here for the first time. Both of them
were written in memory of his cousin, Mrs Sigríður Jónsdóttir, who died at sea in
1880 on her way to America. Stephansson apparently sent the poems to relatives
in Iceland and they were preserved by members of the family until presented to
the National Library.
Ögmundur Helgason: Upphaf að söfnun íslenzkra þjóðfræða fyrir áhrif frá
Grimmsbræðrum. Landsbókasafn íslands. Árbók. Nýr flokkur 15 (1989). Rv. 1991,
pp. 112-124.
Early efforts to collect and record systematically Icelandic folklore originated
in romantic ideals of Danish and German writers and scholars of the early 19th
century, the brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimnt in pardcular. An Icelandic
translation of the tale “Der blonde Eckbert” by the German writer Ludvig Tieck
appeared in the first volume of Fjölnir in 1835. It attracted considerable attention
but the reaction in Iceland was largely hostile. In an important article that
appeared in the fourth volume of Fjölnir in 1839, almost certainly written by
Konráð Gíslason, the philologist, Icelanders are urged to collect their folktales,
and it is pointed out what other nations have done in the field. In 1845 Mr George
Stephens, a British scholar then living in Sweden, sent detailed proposals to the
Royal Society of Northern Andquaries in Copenhagen concerning the collection
of Icelandic folklore. Those proposals were favourably received and the follow-
ing year the Society sent a letter to Iceland laying down guidelines and urging
Icelanders to start collecting. Also in 1845, two young men, Jón Árnason, then
private teacher at Bessastaðir, and Magnús Grímsson, 'then still studying at the
Bessastaðir School, decided to start to collect all folklorisdc material they could