About this book

Unheard-of Curiosities concerning the talismanical sculpture of the Persians, the horoscope of the patriarchs, and the reading of the stars — Gaffarel’s Curiositez inouyes (Paris 1629) in the 1650 Chilmead English translation. The complete EEBO-TCP transcription (CC0, Text Creation Partnership) is hosted here; the folder also holds a curated extract of Part IV (the reading of the stars) and the table of contents.

Relevance to this project

The Persian magi read the heavens as a text of Hebrew letters; the stars are ranged in the heavens "in the form of Hebrew letters," and the sky is a book (Isa 34:4); Part IV ch. XIII on the celestiall writing in Hebrew characters. The closest historical witness to the stellar-alphabet reading as a living practice.

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