Non-Occult Books
A list of non-occult books mentioned by Lovecraftian authors.
Contents
Non-Occult Books
Qanoon-e-Islam
Qanoon-e-Islam or, the Customs of the Moosulmans of India (1830s)
A book describing the culture and rituals of Indian Muslims in the nineteenth century, mentioned in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward: "A fine volume of the forbidden Necronomicon conspicuously labelled as the Qanoon-e-Islam."
Poligraphia
Trithemius’ Poligraphia, Polygraphiae, or Polygraphiae libri sex - Clavis polygraphiae (1518)
The first printed book on cryptography. The codes that Tritheim invented and described in this book, notably the "Ave Maria" cipher, which takes up the bulk of the work (each word representing a letter, with consecutive tables making it possible to so arrange a code that it will read as a prayer), and the "square table", a sophisticated system of coding using multiple alphabets, were used for centuries. The remarkable title page is composed of a 7 woodcut blocks, showing the author presenting his book, and a bearded monk presenting a pair of keys, to the Emperor Maximilian. This block is within historiated woodcut borders of scholars holding emblems of science, arms of Maximilian and three other armorial shields at corners, and a reclining portrait of Trithemius himself at bottom.
One of various books on codes and cryptography mentioned in The Dunwich Horror (these are real books, Lovecraft copied the list verbatim from his Encyclopaedia Britannica).
De Furtivis Literarum Notis
Giambattista Porta’s De Furtivis Literarum Notis (1500s)
Describes the use of a deck of card to encode secret information by writing on the sides of the deck in a known order, then shuffling the cards to destroy the order and render the message illegible to anyone not familiar with the stack.
One of various books on codes and cryptography mentioned in The Dunwich Horror (these are real books, Lovecraft copied the list verbatim from his Encyclopaedia Britannica).
Traité des Chiffres
De Vigenère’s Traité des Chiffres (1586)
Describes an polyalphabetic encryption system, a type of substitution cipher, the same letter may, depending on its position, be replaced by different letters, unlike a monoalphabetic encryption system. This method thus resists frequency analysis, which is a decisive advantage over monoalphabétic ciphers. Vigenère's cipher was broken by the Prussian major Friedrich Kasiski who published his method in 1863, and it no longer provides any security.
One of various books on codes and cryptography mentioned in The Dunwich Horror (these are real books, Lovecraft copied the list verbatim from his Encyclopaedia Britannica).
Cryptomenysis Patefacta
Falconer’s Cryptomenysis Patefacta, or Cryptomenysis patefacta; or, The art of secret information disclosed without a key. Containing, plain and demonstrative rules, for decyphering all manner of secret writing. With exact methods, for resolving secret intimations by signs or gestures, or in speech. As also an inquiry into the secret ways of conveying written messages, and the several mysterious proposals for secret information, mentioned by Trithemius, etc.
One of various books on codes and cryptography mentioned in The Dunwich Horror (these are real books, Lovecraft copied the list verbatim from his Encyclopaedia Britannica).
Kryptographik
Klüber’s Kryptographik, or Kryptographik Lehrbuch der Geheimschreibekunst (1809)
A book written by Johann Ludwig Klüber, still cited as a noted reference book on the history of cryptography. Includes examples of line scripts using a rectangle, circle and a series of embedded ci rcles. For each example, the letters of the alphabet were inscribed within the shapes. In some cases, multiple letters of the alphabet are contained in the same cell. In these cases, the person decrypting the message may need to figure out from the context which letter was more likely in the original message.
One of various books on codes and cryptography mentioned in The Dunwich Horror (these are real books, Lovecraft copied the list verbatim from his Encyclopaedia Britannica).
De Humani Corporis Fabrica
Andreas Vesalius' De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (Latin for "On the fabric of the human body in seven books") (1543)
A set of heavily-illustrated books on human anatomy written by Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) and published in 1543.
(A copy of this book, bound in human skin, is kept in the collection of the Brown University John Hay Library in Providence, RI, one model for the Miskatonic University Orne Library.)
Danse Macabre
Danse Macabre (1538)
A satirical allegory on the universality of death illustrated with woodcuts by Hans Holbein: no matter one's station in life, the Dance of Death unites all. The original Danse Macabre consists of the dead or personified Death summoning representatives from all walks of life to dance along to the grave, typically with a pope, emperor, king, child, and labourer. They were produced to remind people of the fragility of their lives and how vain were the glories of earthly life. This book refashions the late-medieval allegory of the Danse Macabre as a reformist satire, and one can see the beginnings of a gradual shift from traditional to reformed religion. The first book edition, containing forty-one woodcuts, was published at Lyons by the Treschsel brothers in 1538. The popularity of the work and the currency of its message are underscored by the fact that there were eleven editions before 1562 and over the sixteenth century perhaps as many as a hundred unauthorized editions and imitations. Ten further designs were added in later editions.
(Two copies of this book, bound in human skin, is kept in the collection of the Brown University John Hay Library in Providence, RI, one model for the Miskatonic University Orne Library.)
Others
In The Dunwich Horror, Lovecraft mentions other books by Davys, Thicknesse, Blair, and von Marten in the subject of cryptography ("Davys’ and Thicknesse’s eighteenth-century treatises").
Thicknesse's Treatise
Philip Thicknesse (A Treatise on the Art of Decyphering and of Writing in Cypher), 1772
Davys' Treatise
John Davys (An Essay on the Art of Decyphering: in which is inserted a Discourse of Dr Wallis), 1737
Blair's Treatise
William Blair (the writer of the comprehensive article "Cipher" in Rees's Cyclopaedia), 1819
von Marten's Treatise
Cours diplomatique ou tableau des relations des puissances de l'Europe, 3 vols. (Berlin, 1801)
