Bookbinder Svanur Jóhannesson dies at 97

Bookbinder Svanur Jóhannesson has died at the age of 97, Morgunblaðið reports. He died at Landspítali hospital at Hringbraut on 31 October.

Jóhannesson was born at Hróðnýjarstaðir in Laxárdal, Dalasýsla, on 23 September 1929. His parents were Jóhannes Bjarni Jónasson, a poet known as úr Kötlum, and homemaker Hróðný Einarsdóttir. He is survived by his sisters Þóra, born in 1948, and Inga Dóra, born in 1940.

He completed his secondary school examination at Héraðsskólinn in Reykholt in 1947 and began training in bookbinding at Bókfell that year. He qualified as a journeyman in 1951 and worked at Bókfell until 1983, when he joined the office staff of the Association of Book Producers.

Jóhannesson served on the board of the Icelandic Bookbinders’ Association from 1961. He was its secretary from 1961 to 1965, deputy chair from 1965 to 1968, and chair from 1971 to 1976. He also served on the board of the Bookbinders’ Pension Fund and held several roles in the Association of Book Producers, later becoming an honorary member.

He served on the editorial committees of Iðnneminn from 1950 to 1951 and Bókbindarinn from 1956 to 1965. He also compiled and oversaw the publication of Bókbindaratal. He wrote numerous articles for newspapers and magazines. His most substantial works were Prentsmiðjueintök: Prentsmiðjusaga Íslands, published in a revised edition in 2015, and Prentsmiðjubókin, published in 2020.

His wife, Ragnheiður Ragnarsdóttir, was born in 1933 and died in 2026. They had three sons: Einar, born in 1958; Máni Ragnar, born in 1961; and Páll, born in 1964. They had eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.