Lewis Carroll's ciphers: The literary connections

DOI10.1016/J.AAM.2004.06.006MaRDI QIDQ2483908zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Francine F. Abeles

Publication date 1 August 2005

Published in Advances in Applied Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aam.2004.06.006

zbMATH Keywords

BeaufortCharles L. DodgsoncipherLewis Carollmatrix ciphersubstitutionVigenère

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 19th century (01A55) Cryptography (94A60)

Review text

The five substitution cipher systems discussed in this paper were developed in the 19th century by Charles L. Dodgson, an Oxford lecturer who used the pseudonym Lewis Caroll. According to the author, the creation of the Caroll systems was intertwined with Dodgson's word game inventions, acrostics and anagrams. Some of the systems are simplified forms of the Vigenère cipher, another, a matrix cipher, is claimed by the author to be the first cipher making use of a mathematical group; the remaining systems are based on Beaufort's (Sestri's) cipher. Each system is described using small concrete examples. Regardig the security of the systems, the author mentions that, in the 19th century, only few people knew about Kasiski's method.

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