From Hólar to Wrocław. Icelandic Bible in the collection of Wrocław University Library.
A banknote with the denomination of 50 Iceland Krones from 1981 shows the bust of a dignified man in clerical robes, bending over a manuscript book. On the back of the banknote, there is a scene showing printers at work in a 16th-century letterpress workshop. Images put on the currency of Iceland are not accidental. They refer to events that played a big role in the development of the culture and literature of this country.
Man honored in effigy on a banknote is Gudbrandur Thorláksson (1541-1627), a mathematician and cartographer who from 1570 held the post of Lutheran bishop in Hólar for 56 years. He tried to cascade and reassert the teaching of Martin Luther in his country through wide education and the publication of religious papers (he was the author of over 80 papers.) He made his mark in the history of Iceland primarily as a publisher of the first Bible in the national language. It was published in 1584 with a circulation of 500 copies. It constituted the result of the two years of work by seven printers. Thorláksson was not only the initiator of the edition and publisher but he was also the translator of Old Testament texts into Icelandic. His authorship is also the decorative woodcut initials used in the printing, as well as other small ornaments appearing on the pages. From the name of Thorláksson, the Bible is called “The Gudbrandur’s Bible.” Each church was obligated to purchase a copy. The Bible played a very important role not only in the development of Lutheranism, but it had significant impact in the formation and consolidation of the continuity of the Icelandic language.
One of 500 copies of this rare edition is kept in the collection of Wrocław University Library (reference number 556538.) It is hard to say today how it ended up from distant Hólar to the city on the Oder River. Old catalogs confirm the presence of this print as early as the mid-17th century in the collection of the library at St. Bernardine Church. The acquisition of a copy was probably the result of extensive contacts of Silesian Protestant pastors. The copy preserved in Wrocław has special value – there is a manuscript dedication to the first owner on the front page, signed by Gudbrandur Thorláksson. Moreover, many pages in the Icelandic text show proofreading corrections applied by his hand.
The copy from the Wrocław University Library has beautiful and exceptionally well-preserved binding. It became the basis for meticulous research (painstakingly comparing each element of stamps, badges, etc.) that identified the bookbinder. Sveinbjörn Blöndal, who lives in Paris, devoted many years to this issue. He presented the results of his research in his paper “Jurin bókbindari og band hans á Guđbrandsbibíunni”, (Reykjavík, 2023.) The paper was published by the author at his own expense in an edition of 30 numbered copies and the idea was to donate the printing to Icelandic cultural institutions. Wrocław University Library received a copy of a paper marked with a number 28 as a gift.
Thanks to Sveinbjörna Blöndal’s paper, we know that bishop Thorláksson, publisher of the first Icelandic Bible printed in Hólar in 1584, brought in a bookbinder named Jurin from the well-known workshop of Zacharias van Collen in Hamburg. It was Jurin who bound a portion of the edition of the Gudbrandur Bible in the distinctive German style of the time. His works are characterized by rich ornamentation and precision workmanship. This esteemed craftsman played a vital role in the development of Icelandic bookbinding. When he left Iceland in 1586, Bishop Gudbrandur probably bought back some of his tools for the local bindery. This is proven by the stamp reflections seen on the bindings of books printed in the early 1690s and bound in Hólar. They can even be found on the bindings of books printed more than a century after Jurin left Iceland.
Bookbinder Jurin and his binding of the 1584 Icelandic Bible.
It is well documented that Bishop Gudbrandur Thorláksson, publisher of the first Icelandic Bible printed in Hólar in 1584, brought a bookbinder from the workshop of Zacharias van Collen in Hamburg to come to Iceland to bind the Bible. However, it was difficult to identify the work of bookbinder Jurin on the surviving copies of the so-called Gudbrand’s Bible. A remarkably well-preserved copy, clearly bound by Jurin, was recently discovered at the University of Wrocław; the copy had been in Wrocław libraries since the mid-17th century. The binding of this copy is in the characteristic German style of the time, with a panel pattern on the covers over wooden boards and rolls used for decoration. The four rolls are (A) the characteristic wreath scroll at the edge of the panel; (B) a larger biblical scroll depicting Christ the Savior, St. Peter, St. Paul, and Moses, each in a frame and with floral decorations in between; (C) a medallion roll with two house identification marks (“hausmarken”), two coats of arms (including the three towers of Hamburg) and four heads of unknown persons; and (D) a smaller biblical scroll depicting Christ, St. Paul, and St. John, St. Paul and King David, with inscriptions under each figure. In the D roll, the initials “Z V C” are stamped in tiny letters in the St. John’s field; this must stand for Zacharias van Collen. Although a D roll with initials is described in the literature, it is not known what they mean. The initials “H W” and “G L” are stamped on the C roll; the literature describes rolls with these initials and their meaning, but it is unclear whether they apply to the roll used by Jurin, as the styles are very different. Starting with the scrolls used on the Wrocław copy, other surviving copies of the Gudbrand’s Bible can be identified, which include all or some of the Jurin scrolls. The binding of the copies located at the John Hopkins Sheridan Libraries in the United States and at the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel in Germany appears to be identical to the Wrocław copy, although their condition does not make it clear. They are thus most likely bound by Jurin himself. Two copies, the so-called Kristina copy in the National Museum in Iceland and a privately owned copy in Iceland, have a different medallion shaft than the one on the copy in Wrocław, raising the question of whether they were bounded by Jurin. Two other copies, the so-called Háls copy in the National Museum and the copy in the Linköping City Library in Sweden, share tools with the Wrocław copy but have differently decorated center frames. The binding of these two copies is also of inferior quality. The article argues that they may have been bound by Jurin’s disciple and successor at the Hólar bindery; documentary evidence supports this supposition. When Jurin left Iceland in 1586, Bishop Gudbrandur bought back some bookbinding tools for the Hólar bindery, including one wreath scroll as the documents state. However, the large biblical scroll and medallion scroll must have been purchased, as they appear on the bindings of books printed in the early 1690s and bound in Hólar. They can even be found on the bindings of books printed more than a century after Jurin left Iceland. Jurin played a key role in the history of Icelandic bookbinding. He introduced this craft to Iceland and set a good example with his quality bindings. The German bookbinding pioneered by him dominated Iceland for two hundred years, and even longer.
Scans:
- The front cover of the Gudbrand’s Bible by bookbinder Jurin.
- Title page of the 1584 Icelandic Bible with a manuscript dedication by Bishop Gudbrandur Thorláksson.
Translated by Martyna Mrugała (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
