October 2024:
Editorial challenges between dreams and fears

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by your scholarly work that it even haunted your dreams? If the answer is yes – well, you are not alone.

As far back as February 1702, even the historian Þormóður Torfason (Torfæus) was dealing with similar issues, as he wrote in a letter to Árni Magnússon: “I nott dreimdi mig Monfr., og at Series var buinn, og hann visadi mer hana in forma duodec, og at bokinn var illa uptekenn firir Saxonis skuld.” (Last night I dreamed of you, and that Series was ready; you showed it to me printed in duodecimo, and the book was poorly received because of Saxo).

Torfæus’ fears were not unmotivated. The publication of the second redaction of Series Dynastarum was significantly delayed – far more than he and Árni expected.

Though the book received censorship approval in 1697 and Torfæus wrote the prologue that same year, thinking the publication to be imminent, it did not appear in print until the spring of 1702.

Several factors contributed to this delay. After Árni and Torfæus agreed to print the treatise in Copenhagen rather than in Leipzig, they first considered Johann Lorentzen as a publisher, but, as the costs proved higher than expected, they turned to Melchior Liebe in the winter 1698.

However, the delays in the publication did not worry Torfæus as much as the content of his treatise did. He was well aware of the extent to which he was breaking Saxo’s established tradition. As he realized that the publication of Series would have taken longer than initially expected, he began a meticulous revision of the work, and even suggested to write another book about the sources used by Saxo – which, however, he never did.

Meanwhile, Árni was also reviewing Torfæus’ drafts, but their disagreement on some of the corrections caused further delays.

By the time Series Dynastarum was published, the journey had been so exhausting and time-consuming that it’s no wonder Torfæus was dreaming about it. His biographer, Jón Eiríksson, put it so: “Torfæus vero id (i.e. his copy of the book) circa medium anni primum recepit, lætus tamen, quod post tantam molestarum iliadem absolutum tandem vidisset”. (Torfæus only received his copy of Series Dynastarum around the middle of the year, but he was happy anyway that after so many troubles such an Iliad was at last finished).