The American Black Chamber (The 1920s Cryptographic Bureau) de Yardley, Herbert O - 1931

Indianapolis.: Bobbs Merrill., 1931. First edition. Likely 1st. No print line.. Hard cover. Good. No dust jacket. Signed by previous owner. Foxing to front end papers. Lower page block: single small insect condo, empty, not penetrating secret code info. Age-toning; lesser quality acidic text paper.. 1 375 p. Black cloth over boards; red titles. 22 cm. Deckled outside page block. Larger, readable text font size. B&W author casual portrait frontispiece plate. Facsimile code pages, tricks-of-trade codes. Secrets unveiled: In 1928, the Black Chamber de-codification operations were suspended in America by order of a new Secretary of State, following guidelines to no longer "read" coded international messages. The Black Chamber, known as the Cryptographic Bureau, specialists examined cypher telegrams of foreign governments, "where chemists forge diplomatic seals and photograph letters of foreign plenipotentiaries". The author fostered this secret organization for the American Government, he explains in the Foreword, and directed it for 12 years, employing 165 men and women. Author Yardley had arrived previously 16 years earlier as a telegraph operator. The department was born of the British World War I success in breaking international codes, helping America in its growth. Thus, a "secret diplomacy" was established.