Early Cryptography Books

[Sue Anderson]

Mystery fans might enjoy this account of an ongoing exhibit on the history of cryptography at the Folger Shakespeare Library, "Decoding the Renaissance: 500 Years of Codes and Ciphers" : http://nyti.ms/1HWg2U2. The article mentions several early books on cryptography, among them John Wilkins's "Mercury or the Secret and Swift Messenger," published in 1641. Wilkins suggests writing with the "juice of glow worms." His book, by the way, is available at archive.org: https://archive.org/details/mathematicaland01wilkgoog.

[knotyouraveragejo]

Wilkins suggests writing with the "juice of glow worms."

I'm intrigued and wondering exactly what is the chemical composition of the "juice of glow worms"! Must go investigate...