Curiositates Inauditae

Author: Jacobi Gaffarelli.

Printer: Gothofredum Schultzem.

Year: 1678

Jacques Gaffarelwas a French scholar and astrologer. He followed the family tradition of studying medicine, and then became a priest, but mainly developed his interests in the fields of natural history and Oriental occultism, gaining fluency in the Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic languages.

On the other hand, the Sorbonne rejected Gaffarel's work and ridiculed him; however, he gained the protection of the powerful Cardinal Richelieu, who made him his librarian and sent him off firsto to Italy, then to Greece and Asia to retrieve rare books (reportedly including manuscripts by Pico della Mirandola).