Little Book of Magic
Icelandic Manuscript written in Island, Reykjavik, 1670
Lbs 143
Galdrakver or ‘Little Book of Magic’ is a 17th century manuscript, written entirely by hand on animal skin. The writing surface explains both the colour of the pages, and why some parts are a little hard to make out fully. It is said to have been unusual at this time to have written on animal skin- most people would have been using paper at this point.
The manuscript itself contains many diagrams and prayers, as well as a lot of handwritten material gathered by the original author. It was bound in a soft cover somewhere in the 19th century, presumably to protect it.
The original book itself was at one point owned by Hannes Finnson. He was born 8th May 1739 and died 4th August 1796. He was also the Bishop of Skálholt, southern Iceland. Around 95 manuscripts have been associated with this Bishop in particular. So it is safe to say he was a bit of a collector! (Source: Ræveðis)
Made available by Galdrastafir.org initially created by Ræveðis.
