The oldest printing house still operating in the country is Ísafoldarprentsmiðja (Isafold
Printing House). The founding day is June 16, 1877, as on that day the first copy of the newspaper Ísafold was printed.
Björn Jónsson from Djúpidalur
published the first copy of his paper September 19, 1874. Landsprentsmiðjan printed Ísafold during the first years. Because of narrow-mindedness and strict censorship of the management of
the printing house Björn realized that he had to start his own printing house. On June 7, 1877, the printing equipment arrived with the post ship from Copenhagen and was installed at
Björn’s home, the Doctor´s House in Vesturgata. The first copy of Ísafold was published on Jun 16, 1877, thus it is considered the founding day of
Ísafoldarprentsmiðja printing house.
Later Björn bought the so called Lambertssen’s house in Austurstræti 8. He had that house torn down in the beginning of 1886 and built a new two-storied house with a high roof on the lot. That house was called Ísafoldarhúsið (Isafold House).
In 1886, Björn Jónsson bought the Landsprent printing house, from Einar Þórðarson who had bought it in 1877. Thus, the Ísafoldarprentsmiðja printing house became the successor of two of the oldest printing houses in the country, Hólaprentsmiðja, which was imported in 1526 by the bishop, Jón Arason, and Hrappseyjarprentsmiðja.
The roots and foundation of Ísafoldarprentsmiðja may therefore be said to go almost 500 years back.
When Ísafoldarprentsmiðja had been operating for almost 40 years, in 1913, it started printing the newspaper
Morgunblaðið and did so for the next 25 years. This was the biggest and most difficult project of the printing house to that day. Nine months later the World War I began, with paralyzing
effect on all industry in the country. The printing house survived the crisis and continued to grow.
Ísafoldarprentsmiðja was transformed into a corporation in June 1919. The heirs of Björn Jónsson and his son Ólafur, their closest relatives and friends, founded this corporation. The first administration was chaired by Sveinn Björnsson, who later became the first president of Iceland, Ólafur Johnson, wholesaler, and Ágúst Flygenring, grocer in Hafnarfjörður.
Still today, Ísafoldarprentsmiðja (Isafold Printing House) is an important link in Iceland’s daily life. With almost 70 employees, the work and professionalism is comparable to the best in the world.
