by Beeke Stegmann
As part of our project investigating the third life cycle of paper—its reuse—we have been examining all of Árni Magnússon’s roughly 6,000 charter copies preserved in Reykjavik. Many of the charter copies are accompanied by additional pieces of paper added by Árni Magnússon, which served various purposes. For example, they were used to carry notes on individual charters or to group multiple copies together to organize the archive. The paper used for these purposes ranges in size, from whole, uncut sheets to small pieces only a few centimeters in height and width. Quite often, the accompanying paper was reused, and today’s post focuses on a somewhat peculiar finding.
In one of the bundles of charter copies, a large sheet of paper was found holding together the copies AM Dipl Isl Apogr. 1093-1130. The sheet bears printed text on both sides, which seems to be part of an auction catalogue. One of the eight pages on the uncut sheet happens to be the front page, which informs the reader about a book auction set to take place on Friday, 10November 1724, in Copenhagen (“i Snedckernis forrige Laughuus paa Graabrødre Torv”) at 2 o’clock. With such precise information, one would think it would be straightforward to identify the auction and trace how Árni came into possession of the paper. Yet, this has not been the case.
In Harald Ilsøe’s meticulous register of Danish book auctions and catalogues, only two auctions from 1724 are listed. One actually took place in Hamburg on November 13 of that year, so it can be excluded. The other entry concerns a somewhat obscure book auction held by a certain bailiff (Danish: byfoged) named Bruun. According to Ilsøe, the catalogue for this auction appears to be lost, but Árni Magnússon referenced such an auction in a manuscript (AM 82 4to, housed at the Arnamagnæan Institute in Copenhagen), claiming to have bought the manuscript at Bruun’s auction in 1724.
Could the paper Árni used to wrap over 30 charter copies be the only surviving remnant of Bruun’s auction catalogue? It would be plausible for Árni to have had a copy of the catalogue, especially since he made at least one purchase at the event. Or could this uncut sheet be evidence of yet another, previously unknown auction held in Copenhagen in 1724?
References:
Harald Ilsøe, Biblioteker til salg: Om danske bogauktioner og kataloger 1661-1811, Copenhagen: Det kongelige Bibliotek and Muesum Tusculanums Forlag, 2007.
Comments