The Cowboy Code ..Secret Code Book for boys and girls by Francis W. Keene first page up I think..

Sure it’s no multiplicity substitution cipher. Just a simple one.. You have to learn from somewhere , the starting point, as a young dude you have TV and scout stuff and radio (radio had heaps of cipher stuff in that era) I have no idea how z got started in code … This is the first time I have seen a COWBOY code ..link link red Ryder had a cipher thingy….not saying it is all related, just that it strikes the right chords . Just real interesting to me .. Would love to see the rest of this book.. Do not dismiss so quick.

Sure it’s no multiplicity substitution cipher. Just a simple one.. You have to learn from somewhere , the starting point, as a young dude you have TV and scout stuff and radio (radio had heaps of cipher stuff in that era) I have no idea how z got started in code … This is the first time I have seen a COWBOY code ..link link red Ryder had a cipher thingy….not saying it is all related, just that it strikes the right chords . Just real interesting to me .. Would love to see the rest of this book.. Do not dismiss so quick.

I would agree. I don’t think we should be focusing on the symbols he used and whether they are represented in a specific book. Symbols can be easily changed from an example given in a book or a new symbol can be created with a smidgen of creativity and imagination. What I was more interested in is if any of these books specifically talk about homophonic substitution (and realize the books may not even refer to it as this since the author may be trying to simplify it for his/her readers). Also, does the author in any of these books refer to a specific path or route to write a cipher. ie horizontal, diagonal, criss-cross, zig-zag, or spiral.

Whether the book was written for children or adults, if any of them talk about homophonic substitution in addition to a path or route pattern, it might shed some light on how zodiac wrote his 340.

I read Laffin’s "Codes and Ciphers: Secret Writings through the Ages" book with the zodiac ciphers in mind. There was nothing in there that jumped out at me or suggested that zodiac referenced this book.

Did Laffin’s book contain any listing of letter usage? Been meaning to take a look at it since copy 1 is no longer at the Riverside library, though this could mean nothing, but it is located in a library on the college campus near me that is hard to get to due to no parking.

-m

Has anyone looked into military cryptography books like this…

Did Laffin’s book contain any listing of letter usage? Been meaning to take a look at it since copy 1 is no longer at the Riverside library, though this could mean nothing, but it is located in a library on the college campus near me that is hard to get to due to no parking.

What exactly do you mean by "letter usage?" I am definitely new to the cryptology world so terms and dialogue may be a little over my head.

What exactly do you mean by "letter usage?" I am definitely new to the cryptology world so terms and dialogue may be a little over my head.

Sorry, perhaps I should have used the term letter frequency? Basically its a table of how often letters appear in a given language. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_frequency

Most are done now with computers, so I would guess anything from the 60’s might not have been as accurate. Also, changes can happen over time- E is increasing (though is still the most used) due to all our e-mail, e-this, and e-that terminology. Probably i is too, iPhone, etc.

Some use dictionaries (which may not be an accurate reflection of what people actually use), some use text from books, etc. All I know is if I’m ever on Wheel of Fortune, R, S, T, L, and N should not be the first consonants called according to the table.

-m

Sorry, perhaps I should have used the term letter frequency? Basically its a table of how often letters appear in a given language. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_frequency

Most are done now with computers, so I would guess anything from the 60’s might not have been as accurate. Also, changes can happen over time- E is increasing (though is still the most used) due to all our e-mail, e-this, and e-that terminology. Probably i is too, iPhone, etc.

Some use dictionaries (which may not be an accurate reflection of what people actually use), some use text from books, etc. All I know is if I’m ever on Wheel of Fortune, R, S, T, L, and N should not be the first consonants called according to the table.

-m

Yes, there was a letter frequency table in Laffin’s book. I checked it against the standard one’s you can find online and it was pretty consistent. No huge deviations from the one’s you see today.

I’m not sure if a list of cipher, cryptogram, and secret writing books published prior to 1970 have been listed yet.

I heard this tid-bit about ciphers on the National Geographic documentary "Code Breakers" featuring the zodiac 340 cipher. A computer scientist by the name of Ryan Garlick from the University of North Texas said, “he (zodiac) may have used some books that were available at the time. So, if chapter 1 of that book is homophonic substitution ciphers, and we know that that’s how the first solved cipher was encoded, then we definitely want to look at chapter 2 in that book to see how this one (the 340 cipher) might be decoded."

Here’s a list of books I could find published prior to 1970, yet still within range for someone to own the book or check it out from the public library:
a) Codes and Secret Writing by Herbert Spencer Zim 1966
b) Codes and Ciphers: Secret Writings through the Ages by John Laffin 1967
c) The Code Breakers: The story of secret writing by David Kahn 1967
d) Cryptography: The Science of Secret Writing by Laurence D. Smith 1955
e) Secret Writing: An introduction to ciphers, cryptograms, and codes by Henry Lysing 1936
f) Secret Writing: An introduction to ciphers, cryptograms, and codes by John L Nonovic 1936
g) Cloak and Cipher: A History of Secret Writing by Dan Tyler and Martha Moore 1962
h) Secret and Urgent: The Story of Codes and Ciphers by Fletcher Pratt 1942
i) The First Book of Codes and Ciphers by Sam Epstein and Beryl Williams Epstein 1956
j) Secret Codes and Ciphers by Bernice Kohn Hunt 1968
k) Fun with Cryptograms by Joseph Verner Reed 1968
l) Secret Code Book by Francis W. Keene 1955
m) An Invitation to Cryptograms by Eugenia Williams 1959
n) Cryptanalysis: A Study of Ciphers and their solution by Helen Fouchel Gaines 1956
o) Secrets with Ciphers and Codes by Joel Rothman and Ruthven Tremain 1969
p) How to Write Codes and Send Secret Messages by John Lawrence Peterson 1966
q) A Guide to Codes and Signals by Gordon A J Petersen 1942
r) Elementary Cryptanalysis by Abraham Sinkov in 1968
s) Codes and Ciphers by Alexander d’Agapeyeff 1952

Ah, just the kind of list I was looking for. I have recently purchased The Code Breakers by David Kahn, 2nd printing 1967 and Elementary Cryptanalysis by Helen Fouche Gaines, 1st Edition 1939<—- Waiting for delivery

Hard to imagine that the 408 would have been done by someone who had read The Codebreakers, or anything like it. That cypher is much more like an extrapolation of a kid/teen magazine puzzle.

Any kid’s book designed for ages 10+ gets my vote. Like Secret Codes and Ciphers by Bernice Kohn Hunt.

I have yet to hear what evidence there is for the Zodiac understanding ciphers outside of what he read in Chapter 1 of some child’s cipher book.

It looks to me like he bit off much more than he could chew. Underestimated everybody because his ego is so big even the Apollo missions wouldn’t be able to carry it.

Hard to imagine that the 408 would have been done by someone who had read The Codebreakers, or anything like it. That cypher is much more like an extrapolation of a kid/teen magazine puzzle.

Can’t say that I disagree with that. My interest the book Elementary Cryptanalysis by Gaines, besides my fancy for old books and novice interest in ciphers, was a few things I came across while researching it.

A mention of Gaines and the ACA:

This from a pdf I came across:

This review:

I could have sworn I read somewhere this book was recommended for ages 10+ but I may be confusing that with one of the many others on the list I am researching.

This from a pdf I came across:

could that be why the 340 has no repeats on the first row? because the first row is a clue to how to rearrange?