De furtivis literarum notis, vulgo de ziferis libri IIII

Naples: Joannes Maria Scotus, 1563 In-4 (21 x 15 cm), [10] ff, 228 pp. Pages 109-110 printed in black and red, featuring the woodcut arms of Phillip II of Spain on the title page, along with numerous woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces, and 3 woodcut dials with volvelles. Bound in 18th-century vellum-backed boards with a green morocco lettering-piece label, and all edges gilt (the binding shows signs of rubbing, one volvelle on K1 is missing, the lower blank margin of the title is cut away and repaired, browning to quire A, a short marginal tear to R1, and some foxing to the last 3 quires). Provenance from the library of J. Pauss, J.H.S. (inscription at the head of the title), Jesuit monogram on the last page below the colophon; with Dr. Ernest Darmstaedter's stamp on the front pastedown. This is the first edition of the work on the art of cryptography by Neapolitan polymath Giovan Battista Della Porta (1535–1615). While the author approached it in a different context, it essentially serves as a precursor to modern cryptology. "Book I delves into the cryptographic knowledge of the ancients; Book II presents 180 examples of the ciphers from his period; Book III is a treatise on deciphering; and Book IV contains very useful tables of various combinations of syllables and words" (Galland). Della Porta provides an example of a polyalphabetic substitution cipher (later perfected by Blaise de Vigenère and broken only at the end of the 19th century) and lays the foundation of cryptanalysis. In 1591, John Wolfe in London published the second edition in-4, with some copies resembling the imprint of the first edition. Our copy is a rare first edition. References: Mortimer Italian 397; Galland, pp. 146-147; Riccardi 309 (Bella e rara ediz.).