Author: SELENUS, Gustavus (pseudonym of Augustus II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg).
Title: Cryptomenytices et cryptographiae libri IX. In quibus & planissima Steganographiae à Johanne Trithemio ...(Colophon:) Lüneburg, printed for the author by Johann and Heinrich Stern, 1624. Small folio (ca. 29 x 18.5 cm). With the title set within an elaborately engraved pictorial border, a full-page engraving, a half-page engraving, an engraved illustration in the text, and a folding letterpress table. Further with numerous woodcut or letterpress diagrams, tables, and musical scores in the text, a woodcut printer’s device on verso of the final leaf, woodcut and typographical head- and tailpieces, and woodcut decorated initials. Modern overlapping vellum, sewn on 3 supports laced through the joints, with the manuscript title in black ink on the spine.
Description: [36], 493, [1] pp.Rare first and only edition of one of the most renowned works on cryptography written by Augustus II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1579-1666), founder of the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel, Germany. This work, dedicated to Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II (1578-1637) and printed at the author’s expense by Johann Stern (1582-1656) and his brother Heinrich Stern (1592-1665), is a comprehensive survey of various cryptographic techniques and methods of code-breaking, comprising for example steganography (the hiding of a message in a larger text) and encryption in musical scores. It is profusely illustrated with tables and schemes of alphabets and ciphers encoded in numerous variations, occasionally including signs of the zodiac. The text, divided into nine books, is partly based on the famous Steganographia by the German Benedictine abbot Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), which was first published in Frankfurt in 1606. The third book contains the unfinished part of Trithemius’ enigmatic text, of which the secret code had only been deciphered at the end of the 20th century.The intriguing engraved title border is generally regarded as the first pictorial clue in the controversial Baconian theory of Shakespearean authorship, contending that the English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is the true author of the plays written by William Shakespeare (1564-1616). One scene suggests Francis Bacon handing over a text to a man holding a spear (meaning Shakespeare) and one scene suggests Augustus II holding the "Cap of maintenance" above the head of Francis Bacon writing at his desk. Some authors believe this work as a cryptographic twin to Francis Bacon’s De dignitate et augmentis scientiarum and Shakespeare’s First Folio, which were both published in 1623.Augustus II, born as the seventh child of Henry III, Duke of Brunswick-Dannenberg (1533-1598), studied at the Universities of Rostock, Tübingen, and Strasbourg. After his Grand Tour through Italy, France, the Netherlands, and England, he settled in 1604 in his residence in Hitzacker continuing his studies for the next three decadesProvenance: The present copy comes from the library of the Von Oettingen-Wallerstein family.With the black armorial stamp of the Von Oettingen-Wallerstein family in the blank margin of the title-page. A few tiny wormholes in the upper part of the inner blank margin (slightly worsening between pp. 231-264 with no loss of text), small portion of the blank margin of leaves H3, K4, Q2 and Kk3 torn off, four oversized leaves (Q3-Q5 and Aa5) folded (as published). Otherwise a complete copy in very good condition, here with the often missing half title and folding letterpress table.l Brunet V, col. 270 (‘Ouvrage curieux’); BL German Books A1047; Caillet 10114; Galland, Bibliography of the literature of cryptology, S. 166f; Graesse VI, p. 344; VD17 23:285820R.
Keywords: [BFFF1D78AE20] HISTORY, LAW & PHILOSOPHY|[BFFF1D78AE20] HISTORY, LAW & PHILOSOPHY -> [G24E98WD4H26] Philosophy & Esotericism|[E51AD6E3D609] SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY|[E51AD6E3D609] SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY -> [317088CF6DBC] Alchemy, Astrology & Occult|[E51AD6E3D60
Title: Cryptomenytices et cryptographiae libri IX. In quibus & planissima Steganographiae à Johanne Trithemio ...(Colophon:) Lüneburg, printed for the author by Johann and Heinrich Stern, 1624. Small folio (ca. 29 x 18.5 cm). With the title set within an elaborately engraved pictorial border, a full-page engraving, a half-page engraving, an engraved illustration in the text, and a folding letterpress table. Further with numerous woodcut or letterpress diagrams, tables, and musical scores in the text, a woodcut printer’s device on verso of the final leaf, woodcut and typographical head- and tailpieces, and woodcut decorated initials. Modern overlapping vellum, sewn on 3 supports laced through the joints, with the manuscript title in black ink on the spine.
Description: [36], 493, [1] pp.Rare first and only edition of one of the most renowned works on cryptography written by Augustus II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1579-1666), founder of the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel, Germany. This work, dedicated to Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II (1578-1637) and printed at the author’s expense by Johann Stern (1582-1656) and his brother Heinrich Stern (1592-1665), is a comprehensive survey of various cryptographic techniques and methods of code-breaking, comprising for example steganography (the hiding of a message in a larger text) and encryption in musical scores. It is profusely illustrated with tables and schemes of alphabets and ciphers encoded in numerous variations, occasionally including signs of the zodiac. The text, divided into nine books, is partly based on the famous Steganographia by the German Benedictine abbot Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516), which was first published in Frankfurt in 1606. The third book contains the unfinished part of Trithemius’ enigmatic text, of which the secret code had only been deciphered at the end of the 20th century.The intriguing engraved title border is generally regarded as the first pictorial clue in the controversial Baconian theory of Shakespearean authorship, contending that the English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is the true author of the plays written by William Shakespeare (1564-1616). One scene suggests Francis Bacon handing over a text to a man holding a spear (meaning Shakespeare) and one scene suggests Augustus II holding the "Cap of maintenance" above the head of Francis Bacon writing at his desk. Some authors believe this work as a cryptographic twin to Francis Bacon’s De dignitate et augmentis scientiarum and Shakespeare’s First Folio, which were both published in 1623.Augustus II, born as the seventh child of Henry III, Duke of Brunswick-Dannenberg (1533-1598), studied at the Universities of Rostock, Tübingen, and Strasbourg. After his Grand Tour through Italy, France, the Netherlands, and England, he settled in 1604 in his residence in Hitzacker continuing his studies for the next three decadesProvenance: The present copy comes from the library of the Von Oettingen-Wallerstein family.With the black armorial stamp of the Von Oettingen-Wallerstein family in the blank margin of the title-page. A few tiny wormholes in the upper part of the inner blank margin (slightly worsening between pp. 231-264 with no loss of text), small portion of the blank margin of leaves H3, K4, Q2 and Kk3 torn off, four oversized leaves (Q3-Q5 and Aa5) folded (as published). Otherwise a complete copy in very good condition, here with the often missing half title and folding letterpress table.l Brunet V, col. 270 (‘Ouvrage curieux’); BL German Books A1047; Caillet 10114; Galland, Bibliography of the literature of cryptology, S. 166f; Graesse VI, p. 344; VD17 23:285820R.
Keywords: [BFFF1D78AE20] HISTORY, LAW & PHILOSOPHY|[BFFF1D78AE20] HISTORY, LAW & PHILOSOPHY -> [G24E98WD4H26] Philosophy & Esotericism|[E51AD6E3D609] SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY|[E51AD6E3D609] SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY -> [317088CF6DBC] Alchemy, Astrology & Occult|[E51AD6E3D60
Price: EUR 9500.00 = appr. US$ 10325.05 Seller: A. Asher & Co. B.V.
- Book number: ABC_48607
- Book number: ABC_48607