Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.10.1957, Page 490

472
SUMMARY
octavo edition of the second half of the Old Testament printed in Wit-
tenberg in 1524. In this case, however, it was not the original woodcuts
which were used in the Icelandic Bible. These six illustrations are all
inverted in relation to the German octavo edition from 1524, and they
are somewhat reduced in size. At the same time the lines of the new cuts
are rendered in a simplified and clumsy manner. Several of the cuts
considered up to this point are mentioned in an Icelandic text (cf. page
376 f.) as having been borrowed from Hamburg. The resemblance
between ill. 23-27 and the corresponding engravings in Christian IIFs
Bible (the woodcuts for which were borrowed from the Low German
Bible of 1533 printed in Lubeck) has earlier been pointed out by Halldor
Hermannsson. For these illustrations, however, inferior copies of the
original cuts were used at Holar. The last of these contains Gubbrandur
borlåksson’s monogram. This monogram is not, however, as Icelandic
writers have been inclined to assume, a guarantee that the Bishop
himself engraved this or other of the cuts. The title page woodcut,
which also contains Gubbrandur borlåksson’s initials, is the product of
an experienced artist. An inscription would seem to indicate that the
cut was engraved outside Iceland, presumably on commission, since it
remained in Iceland and was later used in the 1644 Bible. In the same
manner, ill. 27 (with Gubbrandur t>orlåksson’s monogram) has remained
in Icelandic hånds and is now to be found in the bjobminjasafn, Reykja-
vik. The most extraordinary of all the engravings, however, is ill. 16 which
has been printed with the same woodcut as was first used in the Lubeck
Bible of 1494 printed by Stephan Arndes. The right half of the engraving
(which in its original size would have extended beyond the limits of the
column) has been cut off.
As was the case with M, a new revision took place during the prepara-
tion of the Gubbrandsbiblxa (N) rendition of the text of the two Books
of Wisdom. Part of this revision took place after the actual printing.
Five corrections are found in the Eccli. text which were effected after
the pages left the printer’s hånd. In the margin of chap. XXXVI, 1-2
four words are hand-stamped (cf. page 380 ff.). This correction does not
seem to have been inspired by any of Luther’s Bible translations, but by
the Vulgate. In chap. XVI,7 a portion of a scribe-variation from M was
included and subsequently removed again after proofreading. The og-
sign (=and), however, was overlooked, and had to be crossed out with