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Galdrakver

Manuscript. Iceland. Landsbókasafn Íslands Háskólabókasafn, Reykjavík, Lbs 4627 8vo. Photo: CC unknown.

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Lbs 4627 8vo

Findspot: Iceland.

Size: L 206 × W 167 mm.

Pages: 112.

Dating: 1800-1900.

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Galdrakver (Lbs 4627 8vo) — a 19th-century Icelandic galdrabók in three unknown hands, formerly the property of Benedikt Jóhannsson of Eyjafjörður and donated to the Landsbókasafn in 1993.

The bound octavo carries a working repertoire of named galdrastafir with their captions and instructions, including the vegvísir on page 17v with a Christian inscription invoking God and Jesus — the third of the three earliest known attestations of the symbol, after Huld (1860) and Olgeir Geirsson’s Galdrakver (1868–1869). Other staves include a strengthening stave (herzlustafur), a stave to defend against sorcery, and a stave to gain knowledge, the last instructing the reader to carve it on lignite.