A centuries-old Nostradamus manuscript that was stolen from a library in Rome around 15 years ago has been recovered after investigators spotted it on the website of an auction house. The hefty 500-page work, which was penned by the iconic French astrologer in the mid-1500s and contains early versions of the soothsayer's famed prophecies, reportedly vanished from the Historical Studies Centre of the Barnabite Fathers of Rome back in 2007. Authorities attempting to track down the pilfered piece of landmark psychic material say that it circulated in the black markets of France and Germany until, to their surprise, it popped up for sale online last year.

By way of an art dealer who had gotten his hands on the manuscript, the book was featured on the website of a German auction house that was asking around $12,641 for the item. Understandably intrigued by the rather unique listing, Italian investigators came to believe that it was the stolen Nostradamus work because one of the its pages sported a stamp from the library in Rome that had previously possessed it. A subsequent examination by German experts confirmed those suspicions and the manuscript was seized by authorities before it could vanish back into the black market. The book's journey through the criminal underworld finally came to an end last week when it was returned to its rightful owners.