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Prof. Finnur Jónsson examined the manuscript and recommended in a report to the Commission (Den arnamagnæanske Kommissions Arkiv, Styrelsen, Korrespondance, 17 (1898-1906), Jno 7, 1902) that it be purchased for the price asked, 75 kroner, “hvad jeg, i betragtning af håndskriftets formentlige værdifuldhed, ikke antager er for meget”.
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AM Accessoria 22 was not, as the shelfmark indicates, part of Árni Magnússon's original collection, but is rather a later addition. It was offered for sale to the Arnamagnæan Commission in 1902 by Björn Líndal (1876-1931), a young Icelandic law student then at the end of his first winter at the University in Copenhagen. Prof. Finnur Jónsson examined the manuscript and recommended in a report to the Commission (Den arnamagnæanske Kommissions Arkiv, Styrelsen, Korrespondance, 17 (1898-1906), Jno 7, 1902) that it be purchased for the price asked, 75 kroner, „hvad jeg, i betragtning af håndskriftets formentlige værdifuldhed, ikke antager er for meget“. In his report Finnur pointed out that the colophons to items 5, 10, 12 and 13 showed that although written at the very end of the 17th century at least half the texts in Acc. 22 derived from a significantly older source (or sources — it is not made clear whether all these texts were copied from a single vellum, nor is anything said regarding the exemplar(s) for the other texts in the manuscript). Thus, although in all but five cases earlier manuscripts exist (AM 604 4to, known as Staðarhólsbók, an early 16th-century vellum, contains texts of ten of the rímur items preserved here, and Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, Codex 42.7 4to, a vellum from the late 15th century, contains texts of six), Acc. 22 was therefore of great textual-critical value. He specifically cited the texts of Skikkjurímur and Griplur in Acc 22 as „gennemgående bedre og korrektere end i de andre (i udgg. benyttede)“, and in the case of the former at least went on to use Acc. 22 as the basis for his edition in Rímnasafn.
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