I.N.J. Fragmentvm M.scr. Runici Cum interpretatione vernacula Nec Non aphorismi selecti. Qvae Cum Consensu Amplissimae Facultatis Philosophicae Upsalensis, Sub praesidio viri clarissimi Joannis Bilberg ...

Full title: I.N.J. Fragmentum M.scr. Runici Cum interpretatione vernacula Nec Non aphorismi selecti, Quæ Cum Consensu Amplissimæ Facultatis Philosophicæ Upsalensis, Sub præsidio viri clarissimi Joannis Bilberg Mathem. Profess. Ordinarii, Fac. Phil. h.t. Decani, Placido eruditorum examini subjicit Lucas Halpap Holmiensis in Auditorio novo Majori ad diem 6 Junii Anno M. DC. XC. 8vo. pp. [ix], 2-39, (1 blank), [4]. Signatures: A-D4 E6. Early 19th-century red morocco and marbled boards, flat spine richly gilt. Gothic and Runic type, partly parallel text. Headpiece on unnumbered page 8, initials throughout, and a tailpiece on last unnumbered page. Nineteenth century armorial bookplate reading "Carolo Jedvardo Bonde" on front pastedown. First edition of this imaginative forgery, an apocryphal medieval saga telling the story of Hjálmar and Hramer, undoubtedly inspired by the vogue for spectacular ancient discoveries in the service of indigenous local history. An enterprising doctoral student, Lucas Halpap, stitched together this conveniently fragmentary narrative from extant sagas, then generously sprinkled it with vocabulary harvested from the recently published lexicon ‘Specimen lexici runici.’ Pseudo-historian Carl Lund (see Bib#4102873/Fr#348 in this collection for his pseudo-historical work attempting to connect the Swedes and the ancient Greeks, which may have inspired Halpap and Nils Rabenius) or forger Nils Rabenius apparently assisted in this fabrication. Halpap even provided an origin story — the discovery of the manuscript by, and subsequent purchase of it from, an Uppland farmer. He also supplied the facing Swedish translation. At the time, it was the only known runic manuscript, and, in 1694, it was acquired by the Swedish College of Antiquities, which quickly sponsored the publication of a complete facsimile with additional apparatuses by Halpap’s acolyte Johan Peringskiöld. The present example has the often missing two-leaf “Selected Aphorisms” (one is of New World interest). See also E. Havens, “Babelic Confusion. Literary Forgery and the Bibliotheca Fictiva,” in W. Stephens & E. Havens (eds.), Literary forgery in early modern Europe, 1450-1800, Baltimore, 2018, pp. 53-54. Click here to view the Johns Hopkins University catalog record.