Páll Melsteð (historian)

Páll Melsteð (13 November 1812 - 9 February 1910) was an Icelandic historian, official, editor and member of the Althing.

They lived in Álftanes for several years where Páll started working on his first book, Ágrip af merkisatburðum mannkynssögunnar ["A Synopsis of the Significant Events of History"], which was printed in Viðey in 1844.

Páll now moved to Reykjavík where he was the prime mover in founding Reykjavíkurpósturinn at a time when no newspaper was being published in Iceland.

In 1868 he started teaching part-time at the Learned School and in 1885 he became a full-time history professor.

In the 1860s Páll wrote and published a multi-volume work on world history, Fornaldarsagan (1864), Miðaldarsagan (1866), Nýja sagan (1868).