Eymundsson is

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

'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 physically assembling a book of codex format from an ordered stack of ''signatures'', sheets of paper folded together into sections that are bound, along one edge, with a thick needle and strong thread. Cheaper, ...

founded "Bókaverslun Sigfúsar Eymundsson" in 1872. In 1886 Sigfus founded Eymundsson publishing 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 Danish Cabinet as the minister for Iceland in the Cabinet of Deuntzer ...

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 Icel ...

. Sigfus was the first to import

typewriter A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...

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. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...

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