By the time of his death in 1654, Selden had accumulated a library of several thousand manuscripts and printed books. Selden's will left his intentions for this library somewhat ambiguous, although the will and codicil seem to suggest that he intended to bequeath most of his Oriental manuscripts, Greek manuscripts, a Latin manuscript, and his printed Talmudic and Rabbinical books to the Bodleian Library, Oxford. There is some evidence to suggest that Selden intended to leave his printed books and historical manuscripts to the Inner Temple but that this transaction did not occur because the Temple did not possess a large enough library. By 1656, two years after Selden’s death, his executors (Edward Heyward, John Vaughan, Matthew Hale, and Rowland Jewks) were in negotiation with the Bodleian library to transfer Selden’s entire collection. In 1659, the executors stipulated that Selden’s manuscripts "bee forever heerafter kepte together in one distincte pile and body under the name of Mr. Selden’s Library." The Bodleian agreed, and the library received Selden’s collection in June 1659.