The guidebook Documentation - Samples of Handwritten Sources was first published in 2001 when Kristjana Kristinsdóttir and Már Jónsson compiled selected samples of manuscripts for use in teaching in the courses Icelandic and Nordic History II and Documents and Archives at the University of Iceland’s history department.

The book was intended as a training exercise in reading handwriting from the middle of the 16th century to the middle of the 19th century, to open the world of documents to those interested in learning about the sources of the period. The only material in Icelandic available at that time on the subject was Björn Karel Þórólfsson’s essay “A few words about Icelandic handwriting” published in the Árbók Landsbókasafns Íslands 1948-1949.

Documentation was originally intended as a temporary publication but has been revised and reprinted twice. A comprehensive revision and a new electronic publication are finally being prepared, due later this year, and until then the 2012 edition will be available on the National Archives of Iceland’s website, heimildir.is.