From Manuscript(s) to Print: Editorial Practices through the Ages and the Case of Konráð Gíslason’s (Incomplete) Edition of Fóstbræðra saga

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The nineteenth-century Icelandic manuscript Lbs 220 fol. contains transcriptions of Fóstbræðra saga copied from Möðruvallabók (AM 132 fol.) and Hauksbók (AM 544 4to), stanzas from the saga based on various manuscripts, and comments on the text. It was written by Konráð Gíslason and later used as the basis for his printed edition of the saga, published in 1852. This article explores Konráð Gíslason’s criticism of Gunnlaugur Oddssonʼs edition and examines the methods Konráð used to produce what he considered a better edition of the text in his 1852 Fóstbræðra saga—taking into account that manuscript evidence, extant letters, and printed sources all indicate that the volume as it exists today was incomplete, and not what Konráð had envisioned. Yet Konráð Gíslason’s edition illustrates how ideologies—editorial, philosophical, and political—influence the works of editors and publishers, from the eighteenth century to this very day.