Codes and Ciphers - A History of Cryptography

Book excerpt: This vintage book contains Alexander D’Agapeyeff’s famous 1939 work, Codes and Ciphers - A History of Cryptography. Cryptography is the employment of codes and ciphers to protect secrets, and it has a long and interesting history. This fantastic volume offers a detailed history of cryptography from ancient times to modernity, written by the Russian-born English cryptographer, Alexander D'Agapeyeff. The contents include: - The beginnings of Cryptography - From the Middle Ages Onwards - Signals, Signs, and Secret Languages - Commercial Codes - Military Codes and Ciphers - Types of Codes and Ciphers - Methods of Deciphering Many antiquarian texts such as this, especially those dating back to the 1900s and before, are increasingly hard to come by and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this book now in an affordable, modern, high quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.