Icelandic Sagas Eddas and Art Author:Pierpont Morgan Library Exhibition catalog with explanatory notes and commentary for Treasures from the Pierpont Morgan Library illustrating the greatest Medieval literary heritage of Northern Europe, 16 September to 14 November 1982. — This book is published on an historic occasion: the first loan from Iceland of any of the early Icelandic manuscripts which are princip... more »al sources of the greatest literary tradition of Northern Europe in the Middle Ages. Of the various kinds of Icelandic literature, the sagas are probably the most important contribution of the Nordic countries to world literature. These realistic, prose narratives written in the vernacular of the twelfth to fourteenth centuries are strikingly modern and continue to be read throughout the world. Also of major significance is the celebrated history of the Kings of Norway, the Heimskringla of Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241) author as well of the Prose Edda, a textbook of poetics and an essential record of the ancient religion.
This volume is beautifully illustrated with 17 black and white details from original manuscript pages.« less