Skírnir - 01.04.2001, Blaðsíða 124

118
GOTTSKÁLK Þ. JENSSON
SKÍRNIR
was destroyed in the fire of 1728 in Copenhagen. It was left to Magnússon’s pupils
to write the first drafts of such works, but only after they had been requested to
do so by German and Danish scholars. In 1724 one of Magnússon’s pupils at the
University of Copenhagen, Jón Thorkillius, accepted a position as Sibbern’s assist-
ant in Glúckstadt. Based on Thorkillius’ manuscripts, the article reconstructs an
account of their collaboration. At Sibbern’s bidding Thorkillius wrote four chap-
ters, 1) on the language, 2) on runes, 3) a survey of the literature by genres, and 4)
a revealing chapter of advice to non-Icelandic scholars interested in Icelandic let-
ters. These chapters, along with various other compilations that seem to have been
considered by the two men as Sibbern’s intellectual property, were left in manu-
script in Gliickstadt when Thorkillius travelled onwards for a sojourn at the Uni-
versity of Kiel to further his studies. Four years later, Sibbern began rewriting the
chapters, editing Thorkillius’ Latin and adding much bibliographical and other ma-
terial. Sibbern’s edited version is extant in a dated manuscript under the title
“Conamina historiæ litterariæ Islandiæ”. He died before he could have this manu-
script printed, probably already in 1729. The treatise was finally published post-
humously by Dreyer, a German lawyer and historian. A substantial part of the art-
icle contains a detailed comparison of the extant copy of Thorkillius’ four chap-
ters, GKS 2871 4to, and the printed Idea Historme Literariae Islandorum, for the
purpose of determining each scholar’s contribution to the work. The comparison
shows that Sibbern did not intend to acknowledge Thorkillius’ contribution, that
he incorported other writings of his into the manuscript, and that he intended to
use the treatise to offer lexicographical compilations by Thorkillius to interested
parties for publication. The article, furthermore, provides a generous biographical
account of Sibbern, since information about this prolific boreophile, who publish-
ed at least two other Latin treatises on Nordic literature, is exceedingly hard to
come by.