GOING, Going, Gone….

From the IR Writer's Group comes a delightful account of how Sharron's Icelandic book library is flourishing.

by Sharron Arksey

My husband and I often attend auction sales, combining the pleasure of the drive with the thrill of the bidding wars. The COVID lockdown introduced us to online auction sales; the first of which was my brother’s farm auction.

Auctioneers tell us that their world has changed for the better since online auctions have gone mainstream. They no longer must search for venues, for example, or arrange for coffee and snacks. They do not need to worry about the weather, and the bidder pool is much deeper with people signing in from far away. 

Within the last year, I have discovered a Manitoba non-profit that holds regular fundraising auctions and three times I have been the winning bidder on books by and about Icelanders.

Because some of the books have been part of lots, I have bought books I already owned just to get the ones I didn’t. For example, I now have two copies of Writings by Western Icelandic Women, edited and translated by Kirsten Wolf [University of Manitoba Press, 1996] and Western Icelandic Short Stories, edited by Kirsten Wolf and Arny Hjaltadottir [University of Manitoba Press, 1992].

But now I also have Icelanders in North America: The First Settlers by Jonas Thor

[University of Manitoba Press, 2002].

Several of the books I have won are coffee table or travel books: How to Live Icelandic, by Nina Bjork Jonsdottir and Edda Magnus [White Lion Publishing, 2021]; Iceland: Land of the Sagas by David Roberts with photography by Jon Krakauer [Villard, 1990]; Iceland: The Unspoiled Land (A Portrait in Colour) by Haraldur J. Hamar with the co-operation of Petur Kidson Karlsson [Iceland Review, 1972]; and Iceland in Pictures prepared by John B. Burks, Jr. [Oak Tree Press Co. Ltd. 1973]. 

Two of the books were published by the American Scandinavian Foundation: Three Icelandic Sagas includes The Saga of Gunnlaugur and Hrafn, The Saga of the Eight Confederates, and The Saga of Droplaug’s Sons, translated by M. H. Scargill and Margaret Schlauch [1950]. The Prose Edda translated by Snorri Sturluson is introduced by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur [1916]. 

Of a more local nature is Islendingadagurinn, An Illustrated History, written by historian Jonas Thor and illustrated by Terry Tergesen [The Icelandic Festival of Manitoba,1990].

Two of my newly acquired books are by the Arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson. My Life with the Eskimo [The Macmillan Company, 1913] comes with illustrations in black and white but has seen a lot of wear and needs to be handled carefully.

Stefansson’s second book is in much better condition. Iceland: The First American Republic features a preface by Theodore Roosevelt [Doubleday Doran and Company, 1939].

And then there are my favourites:

The Book of Settlements / Landnamabok, translated by Herman Palsson and Paul Edwards [University of Manitoba Press, 1972. This medieval Icelandic work describes the settlement of Iceland by the Norse in the 9th and 10th centuries CE.

Framfari was the first Icelandic newspaper in New Iceland. It was designed to preserve the language and heritage of Icelandic culture. The first issue of Framfari appeared on 1 September 1877. Financial problems forced an end to the publication in 1880. My copy is an English translation published in Manitoba in 1986.

“Are you Icelandic?” the employee asked me the first time I came to pick up my winnings.

“I am,” I replied.

“Thought so,” he said.

Now he just heads for the Icelandic books when he sees me come through the door.

At some point, my wallet or my husband will tell me I don’t need any more of these books. It is true that I already own an extensive collection of books with an Iceland connection.

But I’m not sure I will ever get over the thrill of spotting an Icelandic treasure in an auction sale. I’m at that stage in life when there’s not much that I need, but I haven’t stopped wanting.