Reuse of 17th-century paper in Iceland

By Beeke Stegmann

The third life cycle of paper that is investigated in our project "Life of Paper" focusses on reuse of seventeenth-century paper. Besides studying reused paper found in manuscript bindings, we analyse paper that accompanies Árni Magnússon’s copies of charters.

Image 1: Piece of paper reused as wrapper in Reykjavík, The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, AM Dipl. Isl. Apogr. 39, recto-page. Photo: Sigurður Stefán Jónsson.

Image 2: Piece of paper reused as wrapper in Reykjavík, The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, AM Dipl. Isl. Apogr. 39, verso-page. Photo: Sigurður Stefán Jónsson.

When Árni Magnússon was collecting manuscripts and charters in Iceland in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, he was often not allowed to own the originals of letters or other legal documents that interested him. Instead, he copied them or had scribes copy them for him. This amounted to a considerable collection of charter copies, also called apographs,[1] which today fill several shelfs. To make this amount of paper usable, Árni organized the copies into various units. As part of his organizational efforts, he often wrapped together copies of multiple charters that had a connection and provided notes on their origin. Both such wrappers and note slips that Árni inserted were somewhat frequently made from reused paper dating to the seventeenth century.

From a preliminary investigation of the charter copies it is clear that not all wrappers were made from reused paper. Many, potentially even the majority of wrappers, were made from previously unused paper, as there are no clear traces of earlier usage such as older script or clear folding lines that indicate a different primary purpose. Still, a considerable amount of wrappers had a different earlier life, for instance as part of letters (see images 1 and 2), as drafts for bills and as presumably blank leaves in a bound book or booklet, since sewing holes are visible but no text. Finally, examples related to print exist as well, such as in a note slip that is located with Reykjavík, The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, AM Dipl. Isl. Apogr. 72 (see images 3 and 4). We are currently working on its identification in order to provide a secure dating of its primary use. So, stay tuned!

Image 3: Piece of paper with traces of printed text reused as note slip in Reykjavík, The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, AM Dipl. Isl. Apogr. 72, recto-page. Photo: Sigurður Stefán Jónsson.

Image 4: Piece of paper with traces of printed text reused as note slip in Reykjavík, The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, AM Dipl. Isl. Apogr. 72, verso-page. Photo: Sigurður Stefán Jónsson.

[1] Apograph from Greek ἀπόγραφον (apógraphon): ἀπό ("off, from") + γρἀφω ("I write")