Norsk Bokforlag

Here is information culled from an Oslo, Norway business directory: Currently operated by the Norwegian Union Conference in Oslo, Norway, a publishing house was organized July 27, 1882, under the name Den Skandinaviske Forlags-og Trykkeriforening (The Scandinavian Publishing and Printing Association), later changed to Den Skandinaviske Bokforlags (The Scandinavian Publishing House). For some years it was listed in the Yearbook as the Christiania Publishing House. Books and periodicals were printed for Sweden and Denmark, as well as for Norway. Since 1940 the institution has been named Norsk Bokforlag and prints for Norway only. Seventh-day Adventist publishing work in Norway began in January 1879 when J. G. Matteson published “Tidernes Tegn” (“Signs of the Times”). Matteson, a well-educated native of Denmark, lived from 1835-1896. He emigrated with his family to Wisconsin when he was 19 years old. He was saved in 1859, and proved to be an effective speaker for the Baptist denomination. In 1863 he became a Seventh-day Adventist. He delivered a six-month long series of presentations about his new denomination to members of his old denomination, and managed to convince a large number of them to join him in the Adventist faith. The preparation, in America, of literature destined for Europe was a prelude to the establishment of printing facilities in Denmark itself (as described in a preceding paragraph about the Danish-language publication Advent Tidende) and Norway. Matteson’s knowledge of the languages of Scandinavia made him a heaven-sent emissary from the Adventists of the New World to the future Adventists of the old. Like Uriah Smith, Matteson was a man of parts, and of great assistance in efforts to establish Adventism as a global denomination.