Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1957, Page 286
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NOTES
of Holar and a drawing of Holar itself to be included in the
book, a wish AJ was unable to fulfil.
The printing however proceeded at no great pace. In the fol-
lowing year Nicolai wrote to say that the printer had been ill
and had only just begun on the work (spring 1607) ; at the same
time, he sent a gathering as a specimen, excusing the numerous
errors in it (see III 112—13). From Nicolai’s next letter (1608)
it appears that this gathering was in octavo, and that the printer
had started to reset it, this time in quarto, in which format the
book was finally published. But when he had finished six or
seven sheets, the printer died and his widow at first thought of
selling the business, so that the whole thing came to a standstill.
After some time, however, the widow continued in business, and
when the letter was written (May 1608) work on Crymogæa
had been resumed (see III 115—6).
Philip Nicolai died however 26/10 1608, before the printing
was finished, and the preface he had thought of writing was
never composed. Nevertheless, the book was published in 1609
(no year is given on the title-page, but AJ says himself that it
appeared in 1609 : II 3085), with the printer’s widow as publisher
(“Typis Philippi ab Ohr”), although it is clear that the issue
was soon taken over by another publisher, as we shall see below.
The arrangement of Crymogæa has been described above (In-
troduction, p. 53 ff.) and AJ’s general views on history and his
method have also been discussed (pp. 47-9). Thus we may be
content here with a few supplementary remarks on individual
sections of the work.
The geographical introduction (lib. I, cap. 1) is very sum-
mary; apart from an account of the country’s discovery and
oldest names, accompanied by a discussion of the Thule-problem,
it contains only a statement of the land’s geographical position
and a brief version of old Icelandic records concerning the coast-
line and distances around it. At the end of the chapter AJ says
that he will leave to others the description of the country’s topo-
graphy and nature, its flora and fauna, as well as its spirits and
ghosts. He regards himself first and foremost as a historian, and
he describes the people’s institutions, customs and manners pri-
marily in relation to the history of the country.