To start with the bad news: we have hardly any information on paper trade. But I found a manuscript which contains a little bit of information on Icelandic paper trade! The manuscript Lbs 85 fol in the National and University Library of Iceland in Reykjavík turns out to be a true treasure trove because it contains the 1635-accounts of the Icelandic Trade Company, a Danish trade company founded with the aim to conduct business with Iceland.
In the manuscript we read that four different qualities of paper were officially imported: Fine, average, common and printing paper. The list is split up as follows:
26 reams of fine paper for 107 dalir
18 reams of average paper for c. 48 d
27 reams of common paper for c. 40 d
30 reams of printing paper for c. 26 d
All 30 reams of printing paper were sent to the trading harbour of Hofsós, the harbour closest to the diocese of Hólar where the only printing press of the country was. For the rest, most of the trading harbours got one or two reams of each paper quality, however, Eyrarbakki got three of each. Why Eyrarbakki stood out in such a way is a question still unanswered.
Beside such legal trade, illegal trade flourished. In 1636 the sheriff of Snæfellsnes in west Iceland confiscated the goods of Johan Marcusz Mom, a Dutch falcon catcher. Included in the list of goods are 4 quires of coarse paper for 8 shillings each.
We still do not know with clarity where the imported paper was produced. A preliminary watermark analysis suggests that the paper came from Germany and the Netherlands, and towards the end of the seventeenth century also from Denmark. Stay tuned for a report of a more detailed analysis!
Further reading:
Reykjavík, National and University Library of Iceland, Lbs 85 fol.
Pétur G. Kristjánsson: „Íslandssiglingar Englendinga og launverslun á 17. öld.“ Sagnir 20 (1999): 22-28.
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