Washington, D.C. - January 28, 2015: A copy of the "Shakespeare first folio" is on display at the Folger Shakespeare Library's "Decoding the Renaissance: 500 Years of Codes and Ciphers" exhibit in Washington D.C.
There are 233 copies of the first edition book in world, and the Folger has 82, the largest collection. Theories exist that Sir Francis Bacon wrote the plays credited to Shakespeare, and Bacon included ciphers in the text alluding to the playwright's real identity. In 1957 William and Elizabeth Friedman, expert cryptographers from the U.S., published "The Shakespearean ciphers examined," debunking all the Baconian cipher theories.
The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. is exhibiting a historical collection of cryptology, center-pieced by the Voynich manuscript, a 14th century book written in an unknown language, yet to be translated. The manuscript was long considered to be a cipher, but American codebreaker, William Friedman -- who broke Japan's Purple code in WWII -- debunked the notion that the book is a cipher, and concluded it is written in an unknown language.
CREDIT: Matt Roth for The New York Times
Assignment ID: 30170041A