Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1966, Page 272

Postscript
The Motif-Index of Early Icelandic Literature was practically completed
when Dr. Inger Boberg died. It is quite likely, however, that she would
have wished to make a final revision of her manuscript before sending
it to the printers, if her illness and subsequent death had not rendered
this impossible.
A thorough revision by other scholars would have presented almost
insuperable difficulties and it was therefore decided to print her work more
or less as she left it. It has, however, been necessary to bring some of her
references up to date. This is first and foremost the case with the sagas
which have been published since Dr. Boberg’s death in the years be-
tween 1962 and 1965 in the series Late Medieval Icelandic Romances
(LMIR) I-V. Inger Boberg’s quotations from these sagas were taken
from young MSS or popular Icelandic editions. All her references have
been replaced by references to LMIR. This has been done by the editor
of LMIR, amanuensis at The Arnamagnæan Institute Agnete Loth, and
she has also undertaken the onerous task of proof-reading, ably assisted
by the archivists of Dansk Folkemindesamling, Iørn Piø, Gustav Hen-
ningsen and Bengt Holbek.
Inger Boberg did not leave any statement about the character of her
work. It will be noted that the term Early Icelandic is used in a very wide
sense. The Danish historian Saxo is often quoted, with the justification
that he himself claimed to have based much of his work on information
received from Icelanders. Occasional reference is also made to old
Norwegian works, and foreign works in Norse translations are also
included. There are numerous references to young Icelandic sagas, a few
of which date from as late as the 18th and 19th centuries. Although these
cannot be considered as Early Icelandic, they tend to employ stereotyped
motifs that go back to the medieval period.
It should hardly be necessary to call attention to the faet that in the
works to which reference is made the motifs occasionally appear in forms
which are not completely covered by the headings of the items.
J6n Helgason