Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.06.1997, Síða 34
XXXII
The first seven leaves are foliated 1-7, but thereafter the leaves are pagi-
nated, 9, 11, 13 etc on the rectos. Afew versos are numbered, e.g. p. 54 where
a new work begins. Page references in this description use the uncorrected
numbers.
The manuscript has been repaired after the loss of leaves and damage to the
edges of others. New leaves have been inserted as pp. 149-50 and 203-6, but
very little has been written on them: two lines of text and a chapter number of
Jarlmanns saga by Páll Pálsson on p. 149, and at the foot of the page appa-
rently in a different hand a scholarly reference to another copy; and on p. 203
only the title ‘Rímur | af Jasoni Biarta’ followed by ‘(Siá Sögusafn N II)’, a
reference to the manuscript which is now ÍBR 46 4to. Many pages have had
strips of paper stuck to them to protect the edges; text is often concealed, and
almost nothing has been done in the way of writing the concealed text on the
repair. One place where something has been done is in the title of Mírmanns
saga (see below). Missing or concealed text can often be confidently recon-
structed by referring to the closely related manuscripts 1000, 634 and 45 (=
A4, A5 and A7), and to the secondary manuscripts derived from it, 221 and 771
(see below, pp.cvn and cxi).
Several leaves have fold marks on them, in a part of the manuscript written
in 1816, and three of these pages have an address written on them, ‘Til |
Alpfar Magnusdottur | ad Skardi | ij Austra Hrepp’ (i.e. Gnúpverjahreppur,
Árnessýsla), doubtless the same as the woman listed in the census of 1816 as
living at this place (Manntal á íslandi 1816, 330), and in the census of 1801
as unmarried and living at Steinsholt (also in Árnessýsla) with her father, a
Magnús Jónsson (Manntal á Islandi 1801, Suðuramt, 253). This may be an
indication of the area in which the manuscript was written. Its subsequent his-
tory before it was bought from Páll Pálsson is unknown.
There are a few insignificant scribbles in the manuscript, e.g. ‘Gud Mund’
badly written on p. 191. ‘9 Cap’ has been written alongside the original ‘IX
Capitule’ on p. 171. Numbers which are not the same as the chapter numbers,
and for which no reason is apparent, have been written in pencil beside a few
of the chapter numbers in Mírmanns saga, and one at the end of it. Three
words of text have been copied on p. 229.
Mírmanns saga is on pp. 161-91. The text has been affected by loss or by
covering up on all pages, in many cases seriously. The title can be made out
only as ‘Hier Biriast Sagann Af M’; the name has been written in space in the
next line in another hand, ‘Mírmanni’, underlined. The chapters are num-
bered 1-7, VIII-IX and 10-21, the divisions occurring in the same places as in
1000 (above, p.xxix). The opening words are ‘A dogum Clemennz pafa riedi
eirn agiætu[rj | kongur fyrir Fracklande sem’ etc.
The text in 59 is called A6 in this edition. It is similar to A4 (the text in