George Lasry’s decipherment
George Lasry’s report on this item, as he sent it on 24 October 2026 (PDF), in its own order and wording. The decipherment, the translation and the reconstruction of the key are his, made with ChatGPT Astra 6 and Anthropic Opus 5.5. This project’s own checks follow under Verification.
Français 14765 — p351
Contents: An alchemical recipe using mercury, with promises of success and a warning against misuse.
Transcribed; Deciphered
- Ciphertext-only:
- Yes
- Sender:
- Not established
- Recipient:
- Not established
- Year:
- 18th century?
- Key:
- 37 symbols, 36 letter signs, 1 ligature; 2 unidentified signs
- Ciphertext:
- 936 elements, 873 identified (93.3%); 61 ?, 2 unidentified
Excerpt and Translation
p351
Excerpt
soies sure, que vous aures reusi dans vos entrepresi, enco[r] vous seres heureux, si vous non feres acun mau vaise usage —
Translation
Be assured that you will have succeeded in your undertakings, and that you will be happy if you make no bad use of it.
p351
Excerpt
Ceux, qui auront le bonheur, de décou[v]rir cet secret, seront heureux, etant bon chretien, et suivant ce, qui suit —
Translation
Those fortunate enough to discover this secret will be happy, provided they are good Christians and follow what comes next.
Readable text
The full text, folio by folio, as in the report. Bold marks the passages deciphered from the cipher; the rest is the clear text of the letter. Question marks are the report’s: [?] or a bare ? for a sign or group left unread, a ? after a word for a doubtful reading.
Français 14765
p351
Ceux, qui auront le bonheur de décou[v]rir cet secret, seront heureux, étant bon chrétien, et suivant ce qui suit.
Prens trois livre[s] de mercure et vous le meteres dans bon parchemin bien éten[du], étendu. Vous [?] un autre pareile, que vous trempers dans l’esprit de vin du me lieur, [q]ue l’on puise trouver. Vous cou[v]rires le mercure du dit parchemin trempé, et vous [f]rot[t]s? continuelement votre mercure du dit parchemin pour le faire mourir, que au bout [de] trois quart d’heure vous le fares. Lorsque vous aures fait cette opérati[o]n, metteres une cruse au grand feu.
[L]orsque le dit creuse sera rougi, vous [?] [j]etteres [v]otre mercure avec un[e] prise [?] de poudre de philosophe, [?]en [m]eme temps un grain d’or fin. Vous aures le soin de remuer auec votre spatule la matière et tou[j]ours aumente[z] votre feu lorsque vous veres que la matière changera de coule[u]r. C’est à dir[e] que se formera une petite prleule?.
Vous hoteres [v]otre cruse du feu et le laises un miserere à te[rr]e. Aprese cela coulerez votre matière dans une lingoti[e]re graise de suif, e[t] saufe[z]? au feu. Après a[v]oir faite cette opé[r]ati[o]n, soies sure que vous aures reusi dans vos entrepresi. Enco[r] vous seres heureux si vous n’en feres acun mauvais[e] usage.
At a glanceCiphertext-only break · partial (98% of the cipher)
- The document
- An alchemical recipe promising success and happiness to those who find the secret and are good Christians; the date is not established (18th century?).
- Where
- Bibliothèque nationale de France, Français 14765, p. 351 (Gallica
btv1b525172213). - The cipher
- 37 symbols: 36 letter signs and 1 ligature, with 2 unidentified signs.
- How it was read
- Lasry recovered the key from the ciphertext alone. The spot-check decoded the first line (Ceux, qui ...) with his key.
- Still open
- 93.3% of elements are identified, 61 unresolved; the page ends with a flourish and its date is unverified.
- Credit
- George Lasry, with ChatGPT Astra 6 and Anthropic Opus 5.5 (BnF cipher research, 10 October 2026). This project only spot-checked one sample against the image.
01 Verification
Spot-check against the manuscript
This result is George Lasry’s. This project did not re-solve the cipher: it checked one sample against the Gallica image and recorded what it found.
- Batch A. Image checked: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b525172213/f393.item
- Folio matches the report: yes; cipher present: yes
- What we checked: p.351 line 1 "C?TD, L T φ ..." -> "Ceux, qui ..." with his key (L=q,T=u,φ=i); recurrent group "P X T Y" = v o u s throughout; consistent with his excerpts "Ceux, qui auront le bonheur ... vous"
- Verdict: confirmed (method key recovered from ciphertext-only, extent partial). The check is a sample, not a re-solution.
- Notes: 93.3% identified (61 ?), so below the complete bar. Alchemical recipe, page ends with a flourish; date "18th century?" unverified.
Full texts
The transcription and the decryption of every document on this page, so that the reading can be used and checked. Short files are shown here; all are in the repository.
George Lasry's decipherment (report PDF, 24 Oct 2026) read in part
An alchemical recipe using mercury, with promises of success and a warning against misuse; writer, recipient and date (18th century?) not established, as given in George Lasry's report.
Builds coherent sentences, but under the read bar of 95% of words read as sense (88% here); the holes are marked in the reading.
Decryption: in full above, in George Lasry’s decipherment (readable.md)
Reading: in full above, in George Lasry’s decipherment (readable.md)
Translation: in full above, in George Lasry’s decipherment (translation_excerpt.md)
02 Sources
- George Lasry, with ChatGPT Astra 6 and Anthropic Opus 5.5, BnF cipher research, 10 October 2026 (sent to Daniel Bourdeau on 13 October 2026 for publication here), p. 18; his other items are listed on his contributor card.
- The working folder:
targets/fr14765p351/(his entry as extracted from the report, our spot-check,profile.json).