
AM 909 D 4to, f. 55r (https://sprogsamlinger.ku.dk/q.php?p=ds/hjem/billed/239690)

AM 909 D 4to, f. 57v/58r (https://sprogsamlinger.ku.dk/q.php?p=ds/hjem/billed/239693)
Den Arnamagnæanske Samling Copenhagen. Photocopies taken in 1998.
February 2025: Travel essentials for wayfaring philologists: European conversion rates c. 1700
Lena Rohrbach
What do you take with you in your luggage as a travelling philologist?
Five volumes, today archived under the shelf mark AM 909 A–E 4to, contain hundreds of pages of notes that Árni Magnússon (1663–1730) made during his stay in Leipzig in the years 1694 to 1696 (1). The approximately 2000 pages of different size and paper quality that are bound together in these volumes consist of heterogeneous material. First and foremost, they contain long lists of and observations on manuscripts and printed books in different libraries all over Europe, some of them based on printed catalogues that Árni studied in the university library in Leipzig, others – with more or less certainty (2) – based on first-hand studies in the respective libraries. These lists reflect an endeavour to get an overview over book holdings in other libraries and text traditions, but at the same time, the notes also reveal a profound interest in studying the organisation, spatial arrangement and catalogization of libraries. Árni’s notes include a list over opening hours over major libraries in Europe which amongst others states: “Biblioth.i Uytrecht som er got staar aabent 2 gange om ugen” [The library in Utrecht, which is good, is open two days per week] or also “Udi London Westmonster bibliothec for uden penge alle dage uden inscription” [In London Westminster library without money every day without inscription] (AM 909 A 4to, f. 533r).
While these notes on opening hours might be classified as academic interest in the accessibility (policies) of different libraries, another compilation of information seems to be of an utterly practical nature. Folios 55r to 61v in AM 909 D 4to consist of a single page from a printed booklet with an overview over abbreviations of different European currencies (f. 55r) (3) together with several handwritten pages that list conversion rates over local currencies throughout Europe, with entries for Brussels, Amsterdam, France, Geneva, Savoy, and several Italian municipalities. The local currencies such as the French or Piemontese livre and sol are put in relation to the Danish currency skilling (4), but also in relation to other currencies, such as when Árni states: “NB 1 livre du Piemont gior – 15 sols de France” [Nota Bene: 1 livre du Piemont equals to 15 French sols] or “NB Les Testons et Giuli sont monoies du Pape” [Nota Bene: Testons and Giuli are currencies of the pope] (both f. 58r).
Interestingly, repeatedly the year 1697 is mentioned in these notes as date of reference for a given currency rate, which indicates that these notes might have been taken after Árni’s return to Denmark in late 1696. They are archived together with his extensive notes on the holdings – and opening hours – of central European libraries of his time – maybe in preparation of a planned new trip through different realms and principalities?
The bibliographic considerations in these note books are studied in part project 7 within the framework of the DFG/SNSF-research project Resonating networks. For more finds of the months and outcomes of the project follow our activities on Facebook and on our project website!
(1) For a detailed discussion of Árni Magnússon’s time in Leipzig, see Már Jónsson: Árni Magnússon. Ævisaga, Reykjavík 1998, pp. 115–138.
(2) On notes related to his stay in the electoral library in Berlin, see Lena Rohrbach: "Ein Philologe auf Reisen. Árni Magnússon in der Kurfürstlichen Bibliothek in Berlin". In: Lena Rohrbach/ Sebastian Kürschner (eds.): Deutsch-isländische Beziehungen. Festschrift für Hubert Seelow zum 70. Geburtstag. (Berliner Beiträge zur Skandinavistik 24). Berlin 2018, pp. 145–155.
(3) The page stems from Christian Starck’s Manualis Arithmetici Breviarium, Das ist: Kurtzer Auszug aus Christian Starckens Arithmetischen Handbüchlein: Darinnen zu befinden die Resolvirung In- und Außländischer Müntzwehrungen/ der Gewichte/ Maaß/ und anderer Dinge/ ein zweyfaches Multiplicir- und Dividir-Täfflein/ ... so nicht nur bey Handels-Gewerben/ sondern auch Accis-Steuer- und andern Einnahm- oder Ausgaben mit grossem Nutzen zu gebrauchen, published in 1672. This booklet contains extensive tables of conversion rates of European currencies, and Árni’s calculations on the following pages seem to be at least partly based on Starck’s tables.
(4) On Danish currencies in the seventeenth centuries, see Astrid Friis and Kristof Glamann: A History of Prices And Wages in Denmark 1660-1800, vol. I, London 1958, p. 3.