Could “extraordinary few exceptions” be correct?

Question

In his 1991 book, historian J.B. Russel writes:

with extraordinary few exceptions no educated person ... believed that the earth was flat

Should extraordinary be an adverb, or could this sentence be interpreted as if there are few exceptions, and those are extraordinary?

Answer 1

This seems like an error to me: it should either be

With extraordinarily few exceptions...

or, with the alternative interpretation that you suggest (that those exceptions that there are are extraordinary):

With few, extraordinary, exceptions...

Answer 2

Yes, it could be a typo on the part of the author or publisher, or it could be deliberate use of an adjective where an adverb should go. But don't forget that few can be a pronoun as well as an adjective:

Few would argue that the world is flat.

In this sentence few is definitely functioning as a pronoun.

It could be in this sense that the author is consciously or unconsciously using it. Which leads me to believe that this may not be an error but a stylistic choice. I also think it could mean what you think it means in your second interpretation: there are few exceptions and they are extraordinary.