<P> Icelandic scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin made the first transcriptions of the manuscript in 1786 and published the results in 1815 , working as part of a Danish government historical research commission . He made one himself , and had another done by a professional copyist who knew no Anglo - Saxon . Since that time , however , the manuscript has crumbled further , making these transcripts a prized witness to the text . While the recovery of at least 2000 letters can be attributed to them , their accuracy has been called into question , and the extent to which the manuscript was actually more readable in Thorkelin 's time is uncertain . </P>
<P> Icelandic scholar Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin made the first transcriptions of the manuscript in 1786 and published the results in 1815 , working as part of a Danish government historical research commission . He made one himself , and had another done by a professional copyist who knew no Anglo - Saxon . Since that time , however , the manuscript has crumbled further , making these transcripts a prized witness to the text . While the recovery of at least 2000 letters can be attributed to them , their accuracy has been called into question , and the extent to which the manuscript was actually more readable in Thorkelin 's time is uncertain . </P>
who transcribed the earliest known manuscript of beowulf
who transcribed the earliest known manuscript of beowulf
Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin
Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin