on pp. 1-31 : “The Legatum Wamerianum of the Leiden University Library”. This article gives a reasonably detailed description of the formation of Warner’s remarkable collection of Oriental manuscripts. Our knowledge of his life in Istanbul and of his scholarly activities remains limited, however, as only his official correspondence is extant. Warner, who was born in Lippe in Germany (1619), came to Leiden to study Oriental languages when he was 19 years of age. At the end of 1644 he went to Istanbul, attracted by the treasures this city was reputed to afford the prospective student of Oriental languages. He remained there until his premature death in 1665. During those years he not only acquired a wealth of books and manuscripts in various Oriental languages but also a vast knowledge of these languages and cultures, as is proved by the copious notes he made in the manuscripts and the abundance of material he gathered for later publication. For the last ten years of his life he was official Resident in Istanbul - a position ranking between those of Ambassador and Consul. Since the formation of his library was no doubt partly financed from official funds, either from the government or from Leiden University, it is not surprising that he bequested it to the latter institution. The collection comprised more than 1,000 manuscripts in Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Persian and, to a lesser extent, Greek. There were also several hundred printed works, principally in Hebrew. It was not until 1668 that the first consignment arrived in Leiden thanks to the efforts of Warner’s brother Fredericus who had lived with him in Istanbul during his last years. Ship ments were still being dealt with in 1674. One crate arrived so late that an appendix had to be added to the 1674 library catalogue which officially appeared on 29 October of that year 32 . It is difficult to give an impression of the significance of Warner’s manuscript collec tion without indulging in lengthy enumeration 33 . There are about 30 Karaite manus cripts which form an important part of the collection and bear witness to one of Warner’s special interests. His bequest includes two of his own unpublished works on the Karaites {Warn. 74 and 76A) as well as numerous Karaite manuscripts full of notes in his handwriting, obviously the result of concentrated study. He engaged skilled Jewish writers to make abstracts and copies of certain texts, mainly exegetical in character 34 . Warn. 41 is undoubtedly the most important manuscript in this group. It is almost a library in itself, containing no less than 23 different works and it is small wonder that Steinschneider devoted 42 pages to it. The Karaitic author Aharon ben Joseph’s Hebrew grammar, which is twice represented (Warn. 25 7 and 55 11 ) is

32. Pp. 420-424, see note 42. In general see P. C. Molhuysen, Bronnen tot de geschiedenis der Leidsche Universiteit III, passim (Index) and V, p. 106; W. M. C. Juynboll, op. cit. pp. 233-234. This last consignment was probably the crate which Frederik Warner sent on 28 March 1669 and not that which lay unopened at Ph. Serrurier’s in Amsterdam (see below). 33. See Steinschneider, Prtcfatio, pp. XV-XVII. 34. See also Levinus Warner and his legacy, pp. 49-50.