Baltasar Gracián (8 January 1601 - 6 December 1658) was a Spanish Jesuit, scholar and philosopher. Belmonte-born Gracian adopted the vows of the Jesuits in 1633 and taught at several schools before he was appointed Rector of the Jesuit College of Tarragona. He regularly drew the ire of his superiors through publishing works without first seeking permission and using unorthodox imaginative oratory devices in his preaching. His style reached its height in the publication of The Art of Worldly Wisdom, which is considered the exemplar of conceptism. Joseph Jacobs (1854-1916) was an Australian folklorist and translator who was widely regarded as one of the world's leading experts in English folklore. In 1888, Jacobs visited Spain to examine old Jewish manuscripts there. The Royal Society of History at Madrid elected him a corresponding member, a fact that aided in the promotion of his translation of Gracian's work. He was a lecturer in Jewish history and was invited to serve as revising editor for the Jewish Encyclopedia. He moved to the United States to complete this weighty task and lived in New York until his death in 1916.