Distributed for Museum Tusculanum Press
Three Humanist Compendia in Icelandic Translation
This volume brings together several Icelandic translations of early modern Danish humanist texts, shedding light on intellectual exchange between Denmark and Iceland—and within Europe more broadly—in the period.
Three Humanist Compendia in Icelandic Translation presents selected Icelandic translations of three works by the Danish printer, publisher, and compiler Hans Hansen Skonning (1579–1651): Collegium Philosophorum (1636), Mirabilia Naturalia (1639), and Geographia Historica Orientalis (1641).
Preserved in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Icelandic manuscripts, these texts offer a rare glimpse into the transmission of humanist learning between Denmark and Iceland. Drawing on a wide range of Latin and German sources, Skonning’s compendia brought together material on philosophy, natural wonders, geography, history, and ethnography. Their Icelandic translations testify to a sustained interest in European scholarly culture among Icelandic readers and scribes.
The volume presents diplomatic editions of selected texts, lightly normalized for readability, together with the corresponding Danish originals, accompanied by studies of the manuscripts, the translators, and the intellectual traditions underlying the compendia.
485 pages | 3 color plates | 6.89 x 9.65 | © 2026
History: European History
Language and Linguistics: Language Studies
Philosophy: General Philosophy
Table of Contents
Foreword ix
1 Hans Hansen Skonning, his works, and his sources xi
2 Skonning in Icelandic Translation xv
2.1 Collegium Philosophorum xv
2.2 Mirabilia Naturalia xvi
2.3 Geographia Historica Orientalis xvi
3 Manuscripts xix
3.1 JS 405 8vo xix
3.1.1 Paleography xx
3.1.2 Abbreviations xx
3.1.3 Orthography xxi
3.2 Lbs 1541 4to xxii
3.2.1 Paleography xxiv
3.2.2 Abbreviations xxv
3.2.3 Orthography xxvi
3.3 JS 43 4to xxviii
3.3.1 Paleography xxx
3.3.2 Abbreviations xxxi
3.3.3 Orthography xxxii
4 Skonning’s three compendia and their sources xxxv
4.1 The Collegium Philosophorum xxxv
4.2 The Mirabilia Naturalia lvi
4.3 The Geographia Historica Orientalis lxxxiii
4.4 The Danish Texts Printed in this Edition xciv
Bibliography and abbreviated titles xcv
Texts1
Collegium Philosophorum – JS 405 8vo 2
Mirabilia Naturalia – Lbs 1541 4to 110
Geographia Historica Orientalis – JS 43 4to 248
Appendix 351
Diplomatic transcription of De Hecla monte et Islandiæ Insulæ miraculis 353
Index of manuscripts 359
Index of names 361