Gripla - 20.12.2013, Blaðsíða 243

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to the 1840s and 1850s. In other words, Gunnlaugur was always writing
non-fictional, mostly historical manuscripts during his scribal career; he
copied sagas and other prose literature in the 1830s, but moved to poetry
and historical works in his later years. this also shows that he was most
active during the 1840s and 1850s, from when he was in his mid-fifties
until he ceased his scribal activities due to blindness.
It is, however, rather difficult to date precisely his manuscripts based on
palaeographic features. His script in his non-fictional manuscripts is very
distinct and consistent, with few changes over the years. After an analysis
of his diary, Lbs 1588 8vo, which he may or may not have written over
the span of 55 years, it seems that he changed writing the st-ligature and
the capital H. the st-ligatures have ususally a round top until c. 1835, but
afterwards slightly more often a dip in the top bow. It seems, however, that
this feature does not occur often enough for secure datings. the capital
H, it seems, is written with a straight cross bar until c. 1848 and from c.
1815–17 onwards either with a straight cross bar or with a connecting line
between the two ascenders. After c. 1848 he wrote it almost exclusively
with a broken cross bar and only in some instances with a straight cross
bar. the consistency in script and the resultant diffi culties in dating
Gunnlaugur’s manuscripts connote that we cannot be sure when exactly he
started working on his diary or Aldarfarsbók. It also means that we do not
know for certain when or how his scribal activities started, more so because
he does not mention any of this in his diary or other manuscripts. It seems,
however, that some of his historical and non-fictional manuscripts might
have been written before c. 1840. Lbs 484 8vo, for example, contains both
annals covering the years 874–1800 and lists of abbots. It is dated to c.
1820,37 but the occurence of round-topped st-ligatures and capital Hs with
a straight bar and with a connecting line suggest that it was written some
time between c. 1815 and c. 1835. Gunnlaugur probably started to write the
list of priests, now contained in the miscellany js 617 4to, before 1838. Lbs
1273 8vo, containing the Aldarfarsbók until 1846 and dated to c. 1840–46,38
was perhaps started earlier. nevertheless, the bulk of these non-fictional
manuscrips was written in the 1840s and 1850s.
37 see Páll eggert ólason, Skrá um handritasöfn Landsbókasafns, 2:100.
38 see Páll eggert ólason, Skrá um handritasöfn Landsbókasafns, 2:247.
GunnLAuGuR jónsson fRoM skuGGABjÖRG