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SELENUS, Gustav (pseud., AUGUSTUS II), Duke of Braunschweig-Luneburg (1579-1666). Cryptomenytices et cryptographiae libri IX. Luneberg: Johann and Heinrich Stern, 1624. 2° (287 x 178mm). Engraved title, 3 engraved illustrations, one full-page by Lucas Kilian and one by Wolf Kilian, folding letterpress table, woodcut diagrams, initials and numerous head- and tailpieces. (Lacking half-title and final blank, various repairs in text with occasional text loss, a few small holes occasionally touching text, browning and light waterstaining.) 19th-century cloth, label on spine (a few stains, rubbed, corners bumped). Provenance: Harryson Caird (bookplate) -- erased ownership inscription on title.
FIRST EDITION, 'OUVRAGE FORT RARE, DE LA PLUS GRANDE IMPORTANCE' (Bibliotheca Esoterica). The Cryptomenytices extends Johannes Trithemius' Steganographia and is considered indispensible in the study of encrypted correspondence from the Renaissance to the 19th century. Not only does it cover many aspects of codes and cryptography, but its engraved title page, according to Sir Edwin Dunning-Lawrence, provided the first clue of Bacon's authorship of Shakespeare's plays in the form of pictorial puns, a theory expanded in his pamphlet Bacon is Shakespeare (London: 1914). Bibliotheca Esoterica 163; Brunet V, 270; Caillet 10114.
FIRST EDITION, 'OUVRAGE FORT RARE, DE LA PLUS GRANDE IMPORTANCE' (Bibliotheca Esoterica). The Cryptomenytices extends Johannes Trithemius' Steganographia and is considered indispensible in the study of encrypted correspondence from the Renaissance to the 19th century. Not only does it cover many aspects of codes and cryptography, but its engraved title page, according to Sir Edwin Dunning-Lawrence, provided the first clue of Bacon's authorship of Shakespeare's plays in the form of pictorial puns, a theory expanded in his pamphlet Bacon is Shakespeare (London: 1914). Bibliotheca Esoterica 163; Brunet V, 270; Caillet 10114.