This is a rare first edition copy of the first Icelandic bible, it is printed in three parts with separate title pages for the Old Testament, Prophets and the New Testament. It is known as Gudbrand’s Biblia, after its translator and editor Guðbrandur Þorláksson (or Gudbrandur Thorlaksson) (1541 – July 20, 1627). William Morris acquired it during his travels in Iceland in 1871. His Icelandic Diaries record how he saw in the house of one Dr Skaptason at Hnausar (in Húnavatnssýsla) ‘a fine copy of the Gudbrand Bible in its original binding brass-bound and very good’.
An inscription written by Morris in Icelandic on the first page reads: ‘This book I give to my daughter Jóhönnu on the day of her birth 17 Jan: 1891’, revealing that he gave the bible to his elder daughter Jenny on the occassion of her 30th birthday. Morris owned another edition of this bible, which remained in his possesion until his death. It is now in Princeton University Library.
