(unfortunately not always reliable) Index Possessorum (Catal. pp. 420-421). The follo wing are a few examples. Moses Messorudi ben Jehuda Maroli (1560 - c. 1620) was an eminent scholar in Istan bul and the author of several works. He replaced his prevalent surname, Maroli, with Messorudi (Steinschneider: Mi-Zurudi, alii: Mezordi) 38 . He was author of Warn. 52 17 and sometime owner of Warn. 1,8,19,25,46,49. Warn. 1,22,46 were once in the possession of a certain Josef Maroli and Warn. 46,49 were once owned by a Moses Maroli. It is also known that four of these MSS were at one time owned by Moses Messorudi. Jehuda Gur Aryeh ben Menahem (the first three names, which are essentially syno nymous, do not occur in any fixed order nor are all three always used) stamped Warn. 2, 14, 26, 41, 52 and 60 with his own ornate monogram. His surname was probably Revitzi (Steinschneider : Rachizi, see also p. 226 and p. 420, note 4) 39 . A Josef Revitzi, also known as Sinan Tchelebi, was a well-known and influential member of the 17th-century Karaite community of Istanbul. The name Petzi (Steinschneider : Pozzi) is found in Warn. 52 (Elia Petzi) and Warn.1 (Solomon Petzi). The name Elia Petzi occurs in Danon’s Document 38 and that of Moses Petzi in Document 28,8 and 57 (Pacy). This Introduction is not the proper place to list all the names which occur. It is sufficient to note that a remarkable number of the names of previous owners of Warner’s Hebrew manuscripts of Karaitic origin and also of the scribes who copied them can be traced in the documents. The epitaph of a Moses Jerushalmi (see Warn. 41) is to be found in Doc. 58 (cf. Doc. 24 b ). A certain Menahem ben Hanukka (see Warn. 4) is mentioned in Doc. 24 b and 38. The surnames Zaddik (see Warn. 30 and 41) and Beghi (Bagi, see Warn. 63) occur repeatedly. Concentrated research into this subject would certainly bear fruit. The name of J. van Hell, which occurs in 26 of Warner’s Hebrew MSS and also in numerous other books and manuscripts in the collection, presents quite a different problem. This name is always accompanied by a letter or set of letters from A to WWW, working through almost three alphabets to a total of (24+24+21=) 69 instances (the letters J and U were not then included in the alphabet). This combina tion had long been assumed to represent the inscription and library number of a previous owner. Had this been so J. van Hell must have been the owner of a substan tial library of Oriental works, mainly acquired in the East, principally in Istanbul. It proved impossible, however, to find any significant trace of a Van Hell (or Van Hill, as it was, erroneously, read) who had possessed such a remarkable collection of Oriental works but so slight a knowledge of Oriental languages that he repeatedly put his name upside down in a book or in the most unlikely place e.g. at the end 40 . 38. Danon, N.S. 15, p. 319 note 219a. See also Documents 28 and 35-37. 39. Danon, Documents 38, 39 and 54 (7). 40. See Th. W. J. Juynboll’s copious foot-note on pp. XII-XV of Steinschneider’s Prafatio and still G. W. J. Drewes in Levinus Warner and his legacy, p. 17.