Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.10.2003, Page 66
48*
W (Wolfenbiittel 9.10. Aug. 4to)
The verso of the third leaf is blank. Then follow 32 paper leaves (pages 1-
62, including two pages numbered 30a and 30b) of the beginning of
Eyrbyggja, in an early eighteenth-century hand according to the library’s
catalogue.20 The text overlaps that of the vellum W text, no doubt because
f. lr is so difficult to read. This text ends with the words ‘Sidann var madur
sendur ut a Eyri til Biarnar Stýrimans at hann skilldj allann hug aleggia at
Bua skip þeýrra sem fyrst mátti hann’, corresponding to the end of chapter
20 in the present edition.
There are two long tears in f. 1 which reach almost across the leaf.
In three places coarse stitching has been used in an attempt to control
damage, by attaching pieces of vellum to one another. The scribe’s exa-
sperated scribble at the head of f. 3v ‘alillt bokfelli’21 can well be appre-
ciated.
On f. 5 a roughly triangular piece of vellum has been repaired by sewing
at the inner lower corner; below the seam some words are obscure. On this
leaf the tear runs through the writing, dividing many of the words.
On f. 10 a long, narrow, triangular piece has been stitched onto the main
leaf from top to bottom; it widens towards the foot. On the recto side the
tear runs through some words defacing some of them, but on the verso the
writing stops short of the damage.
On f. 12 a large rectangular piece was stitched onto the leaf to complete
its size; it is now attached only at the outer margin and a little way inwards.
This repair is clearly antecedent to the writing. The rectangular piece has
itself suffered damage. There is an incision, two lines deep, at its top,
which the writing avoids (see textual notes to 34.128-9 for the recto and
35.23-6 for the verso).
On f. 20 is a hole, an area that was avoided when the recto was written
but must have been used for writing on the verso. This is difficult to ac-
count for, but perhaps there was a frail piece of skin that looked just good
enough for use on the verso side at the time of writing but which eventually
fell out.22
All these points of damage or repair have affected legibility to some
extent.
On f. 8v a number of words, in a diagonal line, appear to have been
smudged, affecting the reading of ‘idalinn’ 31.55, ‘dys hans’ 56, ‘þordu’
57, ‘harda’ 58, ‘kominn’ 60.
20 See further Man Isl III, p. xiii.
21 Man Ist III, p. ix.
22 See note in text at 45.7.