Abstract
ABSTRACTThis article presents the very first cryptological manual written in German in 1579. Samuel Zimmermann’s Gehaimnussen (Secrets) has gone virtually unnoticed as it was not printed separately but was included in a manual on letter writing, New Titularbüech, more specifically a compilation of hundreds of forms of address to be used in the correspondence with nobility. In Gehaimnussen, the author (a master gunner in the employ of the city of Augsburg) shows detailed but spotty knowledge of cryptological secrets that are frequently interwoven with descriptive passages ranging from the proper use of writing utensils to the production of paper all the way to a listing of alchemical symbols. There was no second edition of either part of this dual publication.
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