On Secret Marks of Letters

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TO THE READER.

...sought after, and published in such a format that they could have been produced in a much more convenient and less expensive way, I took it upon myself to commit them once again to my own printing press. After we began the work itself, five additional things were discovered or occurred to us, about which we thought you, kind reader, should be informed.

For indeed, regarding the usefulness of these books, beyond what the author himself passed down on the same subject, it seemed that several things should be added; and the title was to be changed; and errors corrected; and the more unwary readers were to be warned about certain examples; and finally, certain observations made in passing during a reading by a man most devoted to good literature, along with tables original: "tabulae"; likely reference tables or charts used to simplify the encryption/decryption process prepared from these books, were to be added.

As for the usefulness, therefore: Master Porta Giambattista della Porta (1535–1615), a famous Italian polymath and cryptographer. has not, like others, touched upon only one or two methods of this art, but has treated approximately 180 of them with such industry and diligence that he has not only surpassed others in this matter by a vast margin, but has also shown the path and the method by which we, following in his footsteps, might be able to devise almost infinite other modes in addition.

The man whose observations and tables we are now publishing has shown this to us with one or two examples. Nor can the Polygraphia original: "Polygraphia"; referring to the famous work on cryptography by Johannes Trithemius, published in 1518. of Trithemius be compared with...