Schola steganographica In Classes Octo Distributa, Quibus, praeter alia multa, ac jucundissima, explicantur Artificia Nova, Queis quilibet, scribendo Epistolam qualibet de re, & quocunque idiomate, potest alteri absenti, eorundem Artificiorum conscio, arcanum animi sui conceptum, sine ulla secreti latentis suspicione manifestare by Schott, Gaspar Schott - 1665

Nürnberg: Sumptibus Johannis Andreae Endteri & Wolfgangi Junioris haeredum excudebat Jobus Hertz, 1665. First edition. Bound in contemp. vellum, somewhat stained. The last sheet with a list of Schott's writings up to 1665 is not included here. Quarto 21 ½ x17 ½ cm). Signatures: )( -4 )(⁴ 5 )(² A-2X⁴ (Xx4 blank) Yy². There are . 8 engraved plates and partly engraved folding tables, 3 printed folding tables, and 5 engravings in text. de Backer-Sommervogel .vol. VII,col. 911; Gallard, J.S. Bib. of lit. of cryptology,; p. 163, note; VD 17 3:006423R; Dünnhaupt 3820, 12.1; Caillet 10.007 ; Grässe,; VI, pt. 1, p. 315; Ferguson, Bibl. Notes Books of Secrets, comp. vol. I, I 14, 17: Ferguson, Bibl. Chemica, vol. 2, see pp. 339 - 341: Gmelin, Gesch. der Chemie, i.l.c : Biogr. Universelle, vol. 18, p. 23 : Thorndike, History of Magical and Experimental Science, vols. 7 & 8, esp. ch 21 vol. 7; ; Rosenthal, Magica, 3054, 6086; Poggendorff, vol. II, p. 838. This treatise on cryptography is largely a compilation of cipher systems inspired by, or derived from, the author's mentor, Athanasius Kircher, who had published his own Polygraphia on the subject two years earlier. The work discusses different encrypting and deciphering systems, along with the mechanical instruments involved in some. "Scientific compendium on secret writing in several languages" (Dünnh.), is based in many cases on Athanasius Kircher's "Polygraphia" (Rome 1663). Also deals with the transmission of magnetic secret signals with the help of compasses. this book deals secret alphabets, codes in musical notation, sign languages for communications with the deaf and mute, coding machines, and earlier forms of secret writing (referencing Kircher, Porta, Cardenas, Trithemius, etc).Interestingly, this book also contains a discussion, on pages 268 and 269, on rhinoplasty. Schott refers to the plastic surgeon as a Rhinurgus.