"It is too well-known to need mentioning that according to an ancient Icelandic price-scale, the cost of a Bible is equivalent to that of a cow -- and that means an early-calving cow, or else six well-fleeced lambing ewes. This price is written on the title page of the Bible edition that was printed in a remote mountain valley in northern Iceland in 1584, and as is known, Icelanders have never believed in any other Bible but this one; it was printed with tasteful vignettes and decorative woodcuts and weighs five pounds, and is very like a raisin-box in shape. This volume has always been available in the better churches in Iceland."
The Fish Can Sing Halldor Laxness
translated by Magnus Magnusson
Once while travelling in Iceland, Dr. Jean Young (later of the University of Reading) was sheltering in a remote farmhouse. She saw there a sick sheep being cared for in the house, with its head resting as a pillow on the latest very expensive edition of the Larousse Dictionary. This was the book her college had decided was much too costly to buy for its library.
ReplyDelete