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are now under the control of a central authority, The Icelandic Sport-
ing Union (/préttasamband Islands), founded in 1912.
BOOKS, NEWSPAPERS, AND PERIODICALS
The art of printing reached Iceland about 1530, when Jén Arason
(the last catholic bishop in Iceland) had a press established at Hélar,
where the Breviarium Nidarosiense was printed in 1534. The press
was not, however, much used till some time after the Reformation, and
up to the middle of the nineteenth century there was, as a rule, only
one press in the country; but since that time their number has been
gradually increasing, and at present there are several presses both in
the capital and in some of the other towns.
In a country with about 106 000 inhabitants, book production can
hardly be expected to be a very lucrative trade; vet there are not
a few publishers in Iceland, and the annual number of books is-
sued on various subjects is quite large when compared with the num-
ber of population.
The first Icelandic newspaper appeared about the middle of last
century; it was a fortnightly, but was soon changed to a weekly. The
first daily paper, started in 1896, was soon discontinued, but another
began to appear in 1911 and is still published.
The majority of Icelandic newspapers represent different shades of
political opinion, and can therefore be grouped according to political
parties.”) Papers supporting the Independent party are: Morgunbladid
and Visir (dailies), fsafold og Vordur and Stormur (weeklies), all pub-
lished in Reykjavik; Islendingur (a weekly, Akureyri); Vesturland (a
weekly, Isafisrour); Hanir (a weekly, Seydisfjordur); Siglfirdingur (a
weekly, Siglufiérdur); Vidir (a weekly, Vestmannaeyjar). Progressive
or agrarian papers are: Timinn and Ingélfur (weeklies, Reykjavik);
Dagur (a weekly, Akureyri). Labour or socialist papers are: Althydu-
bladid (a daily with a weekly edition, Reykjavik); Verkamadurinn (a
weekly, Akureyri); Skutull (a weekly, [safjsrdur); Mjslnir (a weekly,
SiglufjorBur); Vikan (a weekly, Vestmannaeyjar); and Jafnadarmadur-
inn (a fortnightly, Nes). Légrétta (a weekly, Reykjavik); and Briin
(a weekly, HafnarfisrOur) do not belong to any of the political parties.
*) At present the party distribution (in Althingi) is as follows: the progressive or
agrarian party 20 members, the independent party (an amalgamation of moderate con-
servatives and liberals) 17, and the socialist or labour party 5.
