on this remote island. But it is to Bishop
Areson, one of the most illiterate and bi-
gotted of the Roman Catholic bishops, that the
inhabitants are indebted for the introduction
of the first printing-press. He, anxious to
undermine the power of the king, and to
hinder the progress of the reformation, but ignorant
of the Latin language, which was made
use of in letters of excommunication and other
ordinances, commissioned a friend to procure
him a person well versed in Latin, who
might, at the same time, establish a printing-
office. For this purpose, Jon Mattheson, a
Swedish priest, was invited to Iceland,
whither he conveyed a press, and fixed it
in the district of Hunnevatn. At his death,
his son removed it to Nupefell, where he
printed some books at the time that Bishop
Gudbrand Thorlacius* began to print at
* “ Ille non modo suae aetatis, sed et posteritatis or-
namentum. Qui praeterquam quod inchoatum opus S.
praedecessore Olao sibi relictum ducente S. S. optimfe
ad earn, quam dedit Deus perfectionein, deduxit, (Dico
labores et diligentiam in asserenda veritate Eran-
gelica, et papisticis superstitionibus abrogandis) etiam
in liac patria sua officinam Typographicam primus
Islandorum aperuit. Cui idcirco patria inter libros
Holum. Bishop Thor Thorlaksen, in 1685,
transported it to Skalholt, whence it was
again restored to Hplum by Bishop Biorn
Thorlevsen. About the middle of the
eighteenth century a new printing-office was
established at Hrappsay, by Olaf Olssen;
and hence, as well as from Holum, many
valuable works have issued. Of late, however,
the office at Holum has been suppressed,
and the only one now in the island
is situated at Leera, in the district of Borga-
fiord.
For an account of the present state of
literature in the island of Iceland, I must
refer to the fifth chapter of Sir George
Mackenzie's Travels in Iceland, where Dr.
Holland has amply treated on this subject*
From it the limits of my Introduction1 will
allow me to extract little more than the
names of some of the most celebrated of
the living authors.—Of such are Finnur
Magnusen and Professor Thorkelin, who
complures in linguam vernaculam translates, etiam
sacrosancta Biblia, elegantissimis typis Islandica lingua
in officina ipsius excusa, inseternum debebit.” Am grim
Jonas, Brevis Comment, de Isl.