Secret Writing in the Long Eighteenth Century
Theories and Practices of Cryptology

Promoted as practice of self-improvement, cryptology of the long eighteenth century granted secret writing methods disciplinary legitimacy.

Katherine Ellison (Author)

9781009078146, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 December 2022

75 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 0.6 cm, 0.15 kg

Cryptology of the long eighteenth century became an explicit discipline of secrecy. Theorized in pedagogical texts that reached wide audiences, multimodal methods of secret writing during the period in England promoted algorithmic literacy, introducing reading practices like discernment, separation, recombination, and pattern recognition. In composition, secret writing manipulated materials and inspired new technologies in instrumentation, computation, word processing, and storage. Cryptology also revealed the visual habits of print and the observational consequences of increasing standardization in writing, challenging the relationship between print and script. Secret writing served not only military strategists and politicians; it gained popularity with everyday readers as a pleasurable cognitive activity for personal improvement and as an alternative way of thinking about secrecy and literacy.

1. Introduction: Cryptology Before the Long Eighteenth Century and Foundational Writings
2. Ciphering and Deciphering as Writing and Reading Processes
3. Cipher Devices as Writing and Reading Technologies
4. Cryptotypographies
5. Conclusion: Pulling Back the Curtain of Secrecy.

Subject Areas: Coding theory & cryptology [GPJ], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD], Literature: history & criticism [DS], Literature & literary studies [D]