Account of Iceland

La Peyrère, Isaac de, 1594-1676Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 85K words
Chapters: 9

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Relation de l'Islande by Isaac de La PeyrèreAuthor: La Peyrère, Isaac de, 1594-1676,Language: French, Class: DL: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Northern Europe, Scandinavia, Release Date: Jul 7, 2007

Editor's review

This is a seventeenth-century account of Iceland written in French, in which La Peyrère records, from a first-hand perspective, the natural features, social customs and human observations of the Nordic island. As a free Project Gutenberg e-book, its value lies not in literary merit but in the primary-source material it offers on early European perceptions of the Nordic world; it suits readers interested in the history of geographical discovery, travel writing or Scandinavian studies. The judgments in the book reflect the limitations of its era and require a critical eye from the reader, yet precisely for that reason it is also a mirror of the seventeenth-century European intellectual horizon. Readers are advised to consult maps and historical background materials alongside the text and to use it as historical source material rather than a modern travel guide, so as to appreciate its distinctive interest.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Researchers interested in seventeenth-century European travel writing and the history of geographical discovery
Readers studying Scandinavian or Icelandic history and culture
Readers who enjoy primary-source texts and can accept early French modes of expression
University teachers and students needing free public-domain material for teaching or paper references

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking practical information for modern travel in Iceland
Those unfamiliar with French and unwilling to read the original with the help of a translation
General readers expecting plot-driven narrative or literary description

Reading tips

First learn about seventeenth-century Icelandic history and the author's life before entering the main text
While reading, consult a modern map of Iceland and mark the place names and routes mentioned in the book
Excerpt passages containing period prejudices separately as an exercise in source criticism
Read alongside other Nordic travel accounts to observe shifts in the European perspective

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book written in French, and what language level is required?

The original is in seventeenth-century French, an early modern form of the language whose syntax and spelling differ from modern French. Readers with upper-intermediate to advanced French can attempt the original; beginners are advised to use a translation or reference materials and focus on the content rather than word-by-word comprehension.

As a public-domain e-book, what is the quality of this edition?

The book is released by Project Gutenberg as a free public-domain electronic text, proofread by volunteers, though early French spellings and formatting may be preserved as in the original. It is best used primarily for its content; where variant characters or formatting issues arise, consult other editions for verification.

Can the accounts in this book be cited directly as historical fact about Iceland?

They should not be cited directly as objective historical fact. The author carries the cognitive framework and prejudices of a seventeenth-century European, and some descriptions need to be checked against later scholarship. It is better suited as material for the history of ideas concerning how Europeans understood the Nordic world; when citing, note its nature as a document and its period limitations.

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About the author

La Peyrère, Isaac de, 1594-1676 Author

La Peyrère, Isaac de (1594–1676) was a seventeenth-century French scholar and writer, best known for two accounts of the Nordic world: Relation du groenland (A Relation of Greenland) and Relation de l’Islande (A Relation of Iceland). Drawing on voyages and materials available at the time, these works introduced European readers to the natural settings, customs, and local lore of Greenland and Iceland in clear prose that combines observation with commentary, making them significant early texts of European writing on the far north. Public information about his life is limited: his education, posts, and main activities still await further verification. The existing classification places him under inspirational growth, which does not fully match the subject matter of his principal works; readers should approach his writing through the texts themselves.