The Farmer, Mammals, and other Wonders of the Universe. An Encyclopedia for the Common People created by Jón Bjarnason of Þórormstunga in Vatnsdalur 1845–1852. Anthology from Icelandic Popular Culture 17. Published by the University of Iceland Press, 2014. Co-author: Árni M. Kristjánsdon. 330 pages. – (Bóndinn, spendýrin og fleiri undur alheimsins. Alfræðiverk fyrir alþýðu sem Jón Bjarnason frá Þórormstungu í Vatnsdal vann á árunum 1845–1852. Sýnibók íslenskrar alþýðumenningar 17 (Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan, 2014)).
The subject of this study is a foreword and chapter on mankind (Mammalia) in manuscript ÍBR 67 4to. Both are reproduced letter-for-letter in the book. The original text was written in 1845–52 by farmer Jón Bjarnason of Þórormstunga in Vatnsdalur, north Iceland. The above-mentioned manuscript is the first volume of nine in the multi-volume ÍBR 67–73 4to, written by Jón about natural science, geography and various other useful knowledge. The principal aim of the research by the authors of this book is to explore how, in the mid-19th century, uneducated members of the Icelandic peasantry were able to make use of available knowledge to produce works of this nature, in the conditions of the time.
The methodology of the book is guided by principles of microhistory. This methodology generally focuses on individuals who have tended in the past not to attract historians’ attention – marginalised people. Microhistorians examine the place of the individual in society, and seek to gain a clearer picture of the culture and mindset of ordinary people. In this way, cultural history can be re-evaluated.
Jón Bjarnason is an ideal subject for such a study; his life story and position in society are explored in the chapter ‘Jón the farmer and his way of thinking’ by Árni H. Kristjánsson, who is also responsible for editing the original text published in the book.
Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon, in his chapter ‘What is a kangaroo? The wonders of the world and the creative space in everyday life in Iceland,’ discusses how Jón’s illustrations may be used to shed light on 19th-century Icelandic society. And what is a kangaroo, after all? Also, what might it look like? In an Icelandic turf farmhouse in the mid-19th century, farmer Jón sat pondering such questions. He appears to have had an insatiable desire to learn. He looked at his neighbours, and wanted them to have the opportunity to share his experience, through his answers to such questions. We know this thanks to Jón’s encyclopaedic writings about the wonders of the world, which he based upon books in Icelandic and other languages, as well as oral sources, and also illustrated himself, with more than 500 drawings. The combination of text and images makes the manuscript probably unique among 19th-century Icelandic manuscripts. The relationship between text and image is the subject of Sigurður Gylfi’s chapter.