It is common knowledge that Scaliger bequeathed his manuscripts and printed books, written in or concerning Oriental languages, to the recently-established Leiden University. After his friends Mylius, Heinsius, Baudius and others had made their choice, the rest of his books were publicly auctioned on behalf of Jonas Rousse, his valet. We find, thus, in a copy of his testament in the Leiden Library 24 : “ ...Touchant la Bibliotheque ie legue a I'Academie de cette ville de Leyden tous mes livres de longues estrangeres, Hebraics, Syriens, Arabics, Aethiopiens, lesquelles livres sont contenus dans le Catalogue que i'ay adiouste a la copie latine de ce mien testament ... Quant aux livres qui resteront apres que les sieurs Mylius, Heynsius, Baudius, et autres miens amis en auront retiré..., ie veux que Jonas Rousse les vende a Vencan...”. Scaliger deals somewhat more fully with the allocation of his library in the Latin version of his testament which is earlier and intended for his scholarly associates 2S : “De bibliotheca autem, quam pro ratione facultatum satis instructam relinquo, omnes libros Hebraicos, Syriacos, Arabicos, et aliarum orientalium linguarum huic inclita Lugdunensi Academia do lego. Quorum librorum cum aliquot Gracis manuscriptis, quos ad Academiam pertinere volo, indicem 28 huic instrument coniunxi, quern partem huius testamenti esse, aut codicillorum vim habere volo. Nobilissimo viro Cornelio Mylio, huius Academia curatori, item Heinsio, atque Baudio potestatem facio, quos velint libros de meis Gracis, et Latinis eligere, ita ut post Mylium Heinsius, post Heinsium Baudius sequatur. Horum librorum catalogus repositus est in viridi pulpito, cui inniti soleo scribens ... Librorum autem quos reliquos fecerint Mylius, Heinsius, et Baudius, sumptis iis quos sibi delegerint, auctionem facial Jonas, et pecuniam inde contractam sibi omnem habeto” 27 . 24. Cod. Perizonianus Q. 5, fols. 39-44, dated 18 Nov. 1608. This text has been published several times, for instance in P. C. Molhuysen’s Bibliotheca Universitatis Leidensis, Codices Scaligerani (prater Orientates) (Leiden 1910) pp. V-VIII. See also the following note. 25. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS Dupuy 395, fols. 182a-189a, dated VIII Cal. Aug. 1607. Four handwritten copies of Scaliger’s Latin testament exist but, until very recently, it had never been published. One can now consult H. J. de Jonge “The Latin Testament of Joseph Scaliger”, Lias 2 (1975) 249-263, also for its relation to the French version. 26. Mention is also made in the French testament of “Le catalogue de tous les livres de ma Biblio thèque, dont i’en distribue ceux qu’il m’a semblé bon & mes amis en une rooie que i’ay faict signer au notaire devant temoings...”. Daniel Heinsius who was, of course, one of the chosen friends discusses this in his long letter to Casaubon, occasioned by Scaliger’s death. The letter is included in the edition of Scaliger’s letters : “Idem sub initium morbi cum in animo haberet. Bibliothecae suae indicem ad me misit, petiitque ut ex eo libros seligerem quos vellem”. (Epistola, (Leiden 1627) p. 384). 27. Other witnesses to the bequest are a letter to Casaubon, dated 13 Oct. 1607 : “... selectiones Orientalium linguarum libros Bibliothecae hujus Academiae legamus ...” (Epistola, (Leiden 1627), p. 340); the above-mentioned letter from Heinsius : “Inter eos quorum rationem habuit, ut de utroque nostrum nihil dicam, praecipui fuerunt Vir Amplissimus Cornelius vander Mylius, .... Clarissimi viri Dominicus Baudius, Iohannes Latius, Grotius 6 Oaopamos, & Iohannes Rutgersius, ... Reliqui (exceptis quos Academiae legavit) divenditi sunt, è quibus aes haud sane modicum confectum est, quod oeconomo illius, qui fldeliter tui paKapiTfl annos plurimos inserviit, ex voluntate ej us cessit.”(p. 835); finally, a remark at the beginning of the sale catalogue of his books Catalogus Librorum Bibliotheca Josephi Scaligeri quorum audio habebitur in adibus Ludovici Elsevirii (Leiden 1609) : “Sciat lector : Illustrissimum virum Testamento legasse omnes suos libros Hebraicos, Syriacos, Arabicos, et