1. Privacy, Secrecy, Brevity, Speed Ciphers & Shorthands Demystified
© 2012 Nick Pelling –

2. What should you get from this?
The confidence and ability to:
see a cipher or shorthand for what it is
work with and transcribe modified writing
know the limits of what you’re doing
not be fooled!

3. However… they overlap & conflict.
The four -graphies
Crypto- = ‘hidden’
Stegano- = ‘concealed’
Steno- = ‘abbreviated’
Tachy- = ‘speedy’
However… they overlap & conflict.

4. What to expect from this talk…
Part 3: Transcribing modified texts
Part 4: Some real examples

5. It’s a complex endeavour!

6. “Stuck in the middle with you”

7. Privacy vs Secrecy Sex with your partner is private
Sex with your tennis partner is secret
Or, somewhat more cryptographically…
Private = we can see it but we can’t read it
Secret = we can’t even see it to read it

8. Privacy Secrecy Nerds GCHQ Mathematics Permutation Substitution
Brains / Intellect
Cryptography
Transformation
Secrecy
Spies
MI6 / James Bond
Disguise
Psychology
Transposition
Visuospatiality
Steganography
Deception

9. Mapping Privacy & Secrecy

10. So many cipher techniques!
Yes… but it’s not actually a problem for us.
Almost all clever cipher tricks never escaped from crypto theoreticians’ textbooks.
Just about every pre-1800 cipher you’re likely to see follows one basic pattern…

11. The Basic Cipher Key A simple format that was used for centuries!
Letter Key (“homophonic” if >1 per letter)
Gemine (to replace doubled letters)
Nulle (nonsense letters)
Nomenclatura (to replace groups / words)
…plus any special tricks or hacks!

12. 1450
Milan

13. Handout: cipher history stuff!

14. Brevity vs Speed Two specific lacks:-
If you lack writing space, you need Brevity
If you lack writing time, you need Speed

15. Brevity Speed Medium-independent Abbreviation Symbol Dictionaries
Contraction
Truncation
Acronyms
Scribal traditions
Symbol Dictionaries
Logical “conlangs”
Speed
Medium-dependent
Designed systems
Easy to use
Stroke-based
(Modern phonetic)

16. Mapping Brevity & Speed

17. Modern shorthand structure
Letter key – one rapid stroke per letter
Trick for writing vowels at speed
Very short variant stroke
Discarding them completely (“abjad”)
Direction (relative to word’s initial letter)
Optional: logical word construction
Optional: many extra shapes (‘arbitraries’)

18. Bright’s Characterie (1588)

19. Shorthand comparison to 1750
Isaac Pitman (1884) History of Shorthand, pp

20. Jeremiah Rich’s arbitraries…
…and hundreds more!

21. Getting Started How old is it?
If pre-1600, it’s almost certainly a cipher.
If it’s all numbers, is each less than 100?
If yes, probably a number cipher: else a code.
Is it clearly designed for rapid writing?
If yes, probably a modern shorthand.
How many different shapes (approx)?
If 25 or less, very likely to be a simple cipher.

22. Common Transcription Pitfalls
Things to remember at all times:
The text might be miscopied (especially if printed)
The ink might have faded
Later owners might have tried to restore it
Later owners’ marks might be misinterpreted as original
Beware wear, stains, rips, tears, contact transfers, etc
Bifolios might have been shuffled or reversed
Key question: what happened to it to leave it this way?

23. Useful Transcription Tips
Patiently build up your own symbol key
Look for ASCII similarities to keep it quick
Transcribe shape variants defensively
Don’t be tricked, particularly by punctuation
Transcribe 25% well, not 100% badly!
Note: this always takes longer than you think!

24. Now… some real examples!

25. 1. A celebrity!
What is it? What happened?

26. 2. Another writer!
What is it? What happened?

27. 3. Ludovico Spoletani (who he?)
What is it? What happened?

28. 4. The Anthon Transcript
What is it? What happened?

29. 5. The Outer Limits…
What is it? What happened?

30. Thank you for your attention!
Any questions?
© 2012 Nick Pelling –