Note 9 — Chapter VI

The valuable printed books are the fourth volume of Finn Jónsson’s “Historia Monastica,” of which only three copies exist in the island; the “Scriptores Rerum Danicarum” (Jacobus Longebek, 8 vols. folio, Hafniæ, 1772); and the “Crymogea” of Arngrimr Jónsson, 4 vols. octavo: the latter is so unhappily divided that it is most difficult to find a passage required. Some of the shelves are filled with presents made by patriotic Icelanders and liberal publishers, such as The Gentleman’s Magazine till 1771; a few Smithsonian and Patent Office Reports; “Le Plutarch Français;” “Conversations Lexicons;” the “Allgemeine Deutsch Bibliotek;” the “Bibliothêque des Romans;” “Chambers’s Information for the People;” “Dictionnaire de Bayle,” and the “Chronique des Religieux de Saint Denis,” by L. Bellaguet—a curious mixture by the side of Thackeray, Dickens, and Marryat. The list of local works, so much wanted by travellers and so rarely found, is eminently defective. Neither the first nor the second volume of Cleasby was among the number, and although the Latin translation of the Njála exists, Mr Dasent’s “Burnt Njál” did not appear. Of Englishmen in Iceland, I found Hooker and Mackenzie, Lord Dufferin, and Symington. Gaimard’s sumptuous and expensive work, including the folio illustrations, is there: its fate has been general abuse and unlimited “cribbing.” I was shown in London some photographs of exploration in the Vatnajökull, which were mere reproductions of the “Sommet du Snæfells Jökull;” and many a book of travels has similarly enriched itself.