Manuscript Detail

The collection of letters was ince the property of Jón Ólafsson of Svefneyjar, who acquired it from an unnamed Icelandic acquaintance.

Jón Ólafsson bequeathed the collection to the Arnamagnæan Foundation in 1786, da det er at formode at disse Breve virkelig engang have hørt til dette legatum, men ere i den fremfarne Tid blevne det fravendte (since the letters were likely once the property of the foundation, from which they were later stolen). At that time, according to J. Erichsen, the letters had been missing næsten i en heel Mandsalder (for a number of decades).

The collection subsequently found its way to the Royal Library of Copenhagen, where it was miscatalogued, first as part of Kall 140 fol. and later Bølling’s collection of letters (volume T). However, on February 20, 1895 the collection was returned to The Arnamagnæan Collection.