Eymundsson is

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

's oldest bookstore, established in 1872. It operates 15 locations around Iceland and offers a wide selection of books, magazines and various gift items. Many of their storefronts also include a coffeehouse. The store offers Iceland's largest selection of foreign books and Icelandic literature in English.

History

Sigfús Eymundsson, a photographer and a

bookbinder Bookbinding is the process of building a book, usually in codex format, from an ordered stack of paper sheets with one's hands and tools, or in modern publishing, by a series of automated processes. Firstly, one binds the sheets of papers alon ...

founded "Bókaverslun Sigfúsar Eymundsson" in 1872. In 1886 Sigfus founded Eymundsson

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

and in coming years he would publish many of Iceland's poets, including

Hannes Hafstein Hannes Þórður Pétursson Hafstein (4 December 1861 – 13 December 1922) was an Icelandic politician and poet. In 1904 he became the first Icelander to be appointed to the Cabinets of Denmark, Danish Cabinet as the minister for Iceland in the ...

and

Bólu-Hjálmar Hjálmar Jónsson (29 September 1796 – 25 July 1875), better known as Bólu-Hjálmar (after his homestead in ''Bóla''), was a 19th-century Icelandic farmer and poet, known for his sharp style and biting wit and for his mastery of the short Ice ...

. Sigfus was the first to import

typewriter A typewriter is a Machine, mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of Button (control), keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an i ...

s and money safes. He was also the first Icelander to publish and sell

postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. In some places, one can send a postcard f ...

s, using his own photos as material. In 1920 Eymundsson bought the house on Austurstræti 18. Today Eymundsson's store still stands on this spot, in house built in 1960.

References

External links

* Bookstores of Iceland 1872 establishments in Europe 19th-century establishments in Iceland {{Iceland-company-stub