Cryptologic Bytes

15 December 1562: Death of Johannes Trithemius, author of the oldest printed book on cryptology, "Polygraphiae." He began writing the book in 1508, but it was not published until 1518. In fact, Trithemius wrote several books and finished them quickly, but they were not published until after his death. This photo is of the Museum's rare book exhibit, which includes a copy of "Polygraphiae." Visit the link below to learn about the NCMF's acquisition of the publication by Trithemius from Dr. David Kahn.

The major works of Trithemius include "Steganographia," (which means in Greek, "hidden writing") written circa 1499, "Polygraphiae," a cryptographic work, and "De Septum Secundeis," a history of the World based on astrology.

Polygraphiae remains the oldest book at the National Cryptologic Museum. And if you look closely at the paper peeking from behind the cover, in the early days of printing, presses would use scraps of old manuscripts as filler material between the cover and the opening pages. Historians have discovered manuscripts that were thought to be lost—hidden within the covers of other books.

Trithemius was also a magician. In his trilogy -"Steganographia," books one and two were clearly systems for encoding and were the first books written on cryptography. The third book in the trilogy was more buried in the guise of occult astrology. Many took the writing literally and thought the numbers contained secrets to conjuring spirits. Scholars, however, went further and discovered the writing contained a code and began working to decipher it. The messages encrypted in Trithemius's tables turned out to be somewhat ordinary sentences.