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List of Riverbank Publications on Baconian Ciphers

This page provides a comprehensive list of all known Riverbank Laboratories publications on the topic of Baconian ciphers, including links to library holdings and PDF files. It also contains notes on the bibliography related to this topic.

List of verified publications

The Keys for Deciphering The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban
Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboraories, 1916. pp. 100
[loc] [ht] [ia] [~pdf]
Hints to the Decipherer of The greatest work of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban
Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916. pp. 15
[loc] [ht] [ia] [~pdf]
J. A. Powell. The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban
Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916. pp. 14
[ht] [ia] [~pdf]

There is also an issue without Powell's name on the cover:
[loc] [ht] [ia]
Mrs. Henry Pott. Hints for Deciphering The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon
Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories. pp. 17
[ia] [~pdf]

Note: Digitized by the 4in1 project.
Fundamental Principles of the Baconian Ciphers, and application to books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Compiled by George Fabyan
Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916. pp. 151
[loc] [ht] [ia] [~pdf]
Fundamental Principles of the Baconian Ciphers, and application to books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Compiled by George Fabyan
Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916. pp. 47
[loc] [ht] [ia] [~pdf]

Note: Black hard cover.
[Unavailable] Fundamental Principles of the Baconian Ciphers, and application to books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Compiled by George Fabyan
Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916. ~pp. 75-80
[ebay] [archive.is] [~images]

Notes: As of November 7, 2024, it is listed on eBay for $2,500. Blue hard cover. According to the seller, contains about 75 pages of text, or a little more. Based on the available photos, the content appears very similar to that of The Keys... and other publications.

See also: Laura Massey, "Knowledge is Power: Shakespeare, Bacon, & Modern Cryptography. ([peterharrington] [wayback] [~images]).
Lessons in The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon of Verulam, Viscount St Alban
Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916. pp. 100
[loc] [ia] [~pdf-1] [~pdf-2]
The first of twelve lessons in the Fundamental Principles of the Baconian ciphers, and applications to books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Compiled by George Fabyan
Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916. pp. 14
[ht] [~pdf]
Dorothy Crain. Ciphers For the Little Folks. A Method of Teaching The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban. Designed to Stimulate Interest in Reading, Writing and Number Work, by Cultivating the Use of an Observant Eye. With an Appendix on the Origin, History and Designing of the Alphabet, by Helen Louise Ricketts
Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, Educational Department, 1916. pp. 73.
[loc] [ia] [ht-1] [ht-2] [~pdf]
Dorothy Crain. Méthode pour enseigner et acquérir une connaissance pratique du chiffre bilitère à l'usage des écoles primaires par Dorothy Crain; avec un supplément sur l'origine, l'histoire et l'évolution de l'alphabet par Hélène Louise Ricketts
Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1918. pp. 69
[ht] [ia] [~pdf]

Note: French edition of Ciphers For the Little Folks.
Mildred Fitz-Hugh. Jerry and the Bacon Puppy. Riverbank Edition
Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916, pp. 24
[~pdf]
E. W. Gallup. The Tragedy of Anne Boleyn
Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916. pp. 147
[ht] [~pdf]

Note: Reissue of a 1901 book.

Bibliography and Notes

Catalogs of Copyright Entries (1916-1918)

Catalog of copyright entries n.s. pt.1 group.1 v.13 1916 Book
[ht:cat] [ht:babel]

Page 762:

Fabyan, George, comp. Fundamental Principles of the Baconian ciphers ... and application to books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centruries, comp. by George Fabyan. [Geneva, Ill., Riverbank laboratories] c1916. [47] p. incl. facsims. 26cm. (Cover-title: Greatest work of Sir Francis Bacon)

Page 1082:

Fabyan, George. Lessons in The greatest work of Sir Francis Bacon, baron of Verulam, viscount St. Alban. Copyright by George Fabyan ... Geneva, Ill., Riverbank laboratories, c1916. [100] p. incl. illus., facsims. 26cm.

Page 1235:

Powell, J. A. The greatest work of Sir Francis Bacon, baron of Verulam, viscount St. Alban by J. A. Powell. Geneva, Ill., Riverbank laboratories 1916. 8, [2], 9-14 p., 1 l. 3 pl. (facsims.) 25cm.

Catalog of copyright entries n.s.:pt.1:gr.2:v.13:no.2 1916
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Page 795:

FABYAN (George) Chicago. Fundamental principles of the Baconian ciphers. 39 p. folder, illus., diagrs., in cover 4to.

Page 906:

FABYAN (George) Chicago. Greatest work of Sir Francis Bacon. 7 p. 16mo.

Page 1059:

FABYAN (George) Chicago. Catalogue of the several comedies, histories and tragedies contained in the cipher. Sheet, 10 by 8 inches
FABYAN (George) Chicago. Easiest manner to memorize the code for the Baconian biliteral cipher, an alphabet in two letters. Geneva, Ill., Riverbank laboratories, 1916. Post card.
FABYAN (George) Chicago. Fundamental principles of the Baconian ciphers and application to books of sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. [Revised] Various paging, illus., mounted pl., port., facsims. (part fold.) 4to.
FABYAN (George) Chicago. Greatest work of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban. Geneva, Ill., Riverbank laboratories, 1916. 7, [1] p. illus. 24mo.

Catalogue of copyright entries. Part 4, Reproductions of a work of art, drawings or plastic works of a scientific or technical character, photographs, prints and pictorial illustrations, works of art / Library of Congress, Copyright Office 1917:1:1:1
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Page 219:

Riverbank laboratories, Geneva, Ill. The keys for deciphering the greatest work of Sir Francis Bacon, baron of Verulam, viscount St. Alban. Geneva, Ill., Riverbank laboratories c1916. 100 p. illus. (incl. facsims.) diagrs. 26cm. p. 13-14, folded.

Catalog of copyright entries n.s.:pt.1:gr.2:v.14:no.1 1917
[ht:cat] [ht:babel]

Page 9:

Crain (Dorothy). Ciphers for the little folks; with an appendix on the origin, history and designing of the alphabet, by H. L. Ricketts. Geneva, Ill., Riverbank laboratories, Educational dept. 1916. 73 p. illus. (part col.) 8vo. (The Dorothy Crain series)

Page 237:

Riverbank laboratories. Francis Bacon. Post card.

Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [A] Group 1. Books. New Series 1918:2
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Page 402:

Crain, Dorothy. Méthode pour enseigner et acquérir une connaissance pratique du chiffre bilitère à l'usage des écoles primaires, par Dorothy Crain; avec un supplément sur l'origine, l'histoire et l'évolution de l'alphabet par Hélène Louise Ricketts. Geneva, Ill., Riverbank laboratories, 1918. 69 p. incl. illus. (part col.) 10 pl. 25cm

= = =

Joseph S. Galland (1945)

Professor Joseph S. Galland in his work An Historical and Analytical Bibliography of the Literature of Cryptology includes following works (pp. 49, 65, 162):

Crain, Dorothy. Cipher for the little folks; a method of teaching the greatest work of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban; designed to stimulate interest in reading, writing and number work, by cultivating the use of an observant eye; with an appendix on the origin, history and designing of the alphabet, by Helen Louise Ricketts. Riverbank Laboratories, Educational Department, Geneva, Ill., 1916. pp. 73.
Crain, Dorothy. Methode pour enseigner et acquérir une connaissance a pratique du Chiffre Bilitere. A l‘usage des écoles primaires, par Dorothy Crain; avec un supplément sur l’origine, l’histoire et l’évolution de l’alphabet, par Hélène Louise Ricketts. Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1918. pp. 69.
Fitzhugh, Mildred. Jerry and the Bacon puppy. Riverbank edition. Geneva, Ill.: The Riverbank Press, 1916. pp. 25.
Powell, J. A. The greatest work of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban. Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916. pp. 18.
Powell, J. A. The first of twelve lessons in the fundamental principles of the Baconian ciphers and application to books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, c. 1916. pp. 16.

Note: In Galland's book, this and all subsequent works are incorrectly attributed to Powell.
Powell, J. A. The greatest work of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban, his contribution to the science of cryptography and enciphered Writings. Compiled by George Fabyan. Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1922? pp. 80. [See Lange et Soudart, Traite de cryptographie, pp. 37, 92, 293; Pratt, Secret and urgent, pp. 106-108.]

Note: This one is quite intriguing. Weird date, and no work with this exact title has yet been uncovered. References to Lange & Soudart and Pratt don't help much.
Powell, J. A. The keys for deciphering the greatest work of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban. Geneva. Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916. pp. 100.
Powell, J. A. Hints to the decipherer of the greatest work of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam, Viscount St. Alban. Geneva, Ill.: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916. pp. 15.

= = =

The Friedmans (1955-1957)

In The Cryptologist Looks At Shakespeare typescript, p. 487, they provide the following list:

Powell, J. A. The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon, 1916, pp. 14
Anon. Hints to the decipherer of The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon, 1916, pp. 15
Pott, Mrs. Henry. Hints for deciphering The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon, n.d. pp. 17
Anon. The keys for deciphering The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon, 1916, pp. 100
Crain, Dorothy. Ciphers for the little folks, 1916, pp. 73

In later book The Shakespearean Ciphers Examined these publications are mentioned only in two short sentences, separated by 42 pages.

Page 208:

While she was there [Mrs Gallup at Riverbank], Fabyan issued in his series of Riverbank publications six small items relating to the biliteral cipher.

Page 250:

There were five of them; four dealing with what was called ‘The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon,’ and one called Ciphers for the Little Folks.

= = =

David Shulman (1976)

Not very accurate nor complete list from An Annotated Bibliography of Cryptography, cited in The Fraudulent Friedmans by A. Phoenix (see below), pp. 101-102:

Crain, Dorothy. Ciphers for the Little Folks. A Method of Teaching the Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon... Designed to stimulate interest in Reading, Writing, and Number Work... With an appendix on the Origin, History and Designing of the Alphabet by Helen Louise Ricketts. Riverbank Publ., 1916. 73 p. 8x10". DLC. Also, a translation in French, 1918. DLC, University of Pennsylvania Library.
Fabyan, George. The first of twelve lessons in the fundamental principles of the Baconian ciphers... Riverbank Lab., Geneva, Ill., 1916. 8 1 incl. tables. 25 cm. NN. Evidently, Colonel Fabyan, probably a wizard in acoustics, was bitten by the Bacon bug. He later donated his excellent collection of books on ciphers to the Library of Congress.
Fabyan, George. The keys for decyphering Francis Bacon’s Greatest Work. Riverbank Lab., Geneva, Ill., (1916). 100 p. Illus. 26 cm. NN.
Fitzhugh, Mildred. Jerry and The Bacon Puppy. Showing young people some of the reasons why the sport of horse racing is prohibited. Riverbank., Publ., Geneva, Ill., 1916? 24 p. 8 x 9 3/4". In Sinnott collection. A pamphlet relating to Baconian controversy.
Powell, J. A. The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon. Riverbank Lab., Geneva, Ill., 1916. 14 p., 3 pl. 25x20 1/2 cm. NN

= = =

John W. Kopec (1997)

The book The Sabines at Riverbank by then supervisor of Riverbank Acoustical Laboratories John W. Kopec, though mainly devoted to the history of Riverbank and architectural acoustics, contains a couple of interesting remarks on the topic of the article.

Page 4:

In 1913, Colonel George Fabyan was in dire need of an acoustical consultant to assist with a scientific project being conducted on his estate. This particular Riverbank project dealt with the building and testing of an acoustical levitating device constructed from a seventeenth-century description of a similar machine written in code by Sir Francis Bacon and deciphered by Elizabeth Wells Gallup.
[...]
This is referenced in the galley proofs of “The Fundamental Principles of the Baconian Ciphers,” dated 1916, a document the colonel dedicated to his mother. In this work Mrs. Gallup included various poems, short stories, and nursery rhymes, along with explanations of a variety of the society’s experiments — one of which was an experiment with an acoustic levitation device.

Although several different editions have been published under the same title "Fundamental Principles of Baconian Ciphers ..." (see the list above), and they do indeed contain a dedication to Fabyan's mother, they contain only instructional materials on breaking the biliteral cipher using Gallup's method. To date, no publications — or even other references to publications — containing actual deciphered descriptions of experiments have been found. It's generally believed that Gallup and Fabyan never published these descriptions, though there remains a slight chance this may not be the case.

Page 64 (bold highlight by the editor):

Although the Friedmans loved Riverbank, they had many reservations about Colonel Fabyan because he had broken many promises, involving back pay, title recognition in regard to published documents, and other fringe benefits. When discussing the Baconian ciphers, the Friedmans stated that they spent years working on Bacon’s writings, and the results of their efforts were documented by them. However, when their book The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon was printed in 1916, the author listed was George Fabyan.
[...]
one book was entitled Ciphers for the Little Folks.
[...]
Another book was published in French in 1918 by the Riverbank Press: Methode Pour Enseigner et acquérir une connaissance practique du Chiffre Bilitere A l’usage des ecoles primaires.

= = =

Louis Kruh (2006?)

Although the list of books from Louis Kruh's cryptologic collection does not add any new insights to the topic, it certainly deserves attention.

Crain, Dorothy. Ciphers For the Little Folks. Geneva, IL: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916, 73 pp.
Crain, D. Methods Pour Enseigner et Acquérir une Connaissance pratique du Chiffre Bilitere. Geneva, IL: Riverbank Laboratories, 1918, 69 pp.
Fabyan, G. Hints to the Decipherer of The Greatest Work Of Sir Francis Bacon. Riverbank Laboratories, 1916, 15 pp.
Fabyan, George. The Bi-Formed Alphabet Classifier and Directions for Use of Classifier. Geneva, IL: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916, 2 pp.
Fabyan, G. The Keys For Deciphering the Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon. Riverbank Laboratories, 1916, 100 pp.
Fabyan, George. The First of Twelve Lessons in the Fundamental Principles of the Baconian Ciphers. Geneva, IL: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916, 16 pp.
Fitz-Hugh, M. Jerry and the Bacon Puppy. Riverbank Laboratories, 1916, 24 pp.
Gallup, Elizabeth Wells. The Tragedy of Anne Boleyn. Geneva, IL: Riverbank Laboratories, 1916, 147 pp. plus Appendix.
Powell, J.A. The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon. Riverbank Publications, 1916, 14 pp. + plates.
The Keys for Deciphering The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon, Baron of Verulam Viscount St. Alban. Geneva, Ill., Riverbank Laboratories, 1916, 100 pp.

The Bi-Formed Alphabet Classifiers from Kruh's collection are included in other publications and are available within their PDFs.

= = =

A. Phoenix (2022)

An independent researcher A. Phoenix in their book The Fraudulent Friedmans cite the Friedmans on pp. 98-99 and Galland on pp. 99-100. They also mention works by D. Kahn, D. Newton, D. Shulman and others. See chapters 2 and 3 of their book.

On pp. 100 and 104, they mistakenly state that one pamphlet from the Friedmans' list, Hints for deciphering The Greatest Work of Sir Francis Bacon by Mrs. Henry Pott (n.d, pp. 17), was never published by Riverbank Laboratories. This, however, turned out to be inaccurate, as this pamphlet was found and digitized by the 4in1 project in 2024. As A. Phoenix correctly state, it is merely a reissue of an older work by Mrs. Henry Pott, titled The Biliteral Cipher: hints for Deciphering, published in London by Robert Banks & Son.