Read further · read 81.8% · known key applied · partial

Deboli and Gołuchowski, St Petersburg, 1787: the despatches in the older code

Fourteen cipher despatches of 1786–87 from the Polish legation at St Petersburg, in the one-part code of 1783 whose key survives in the same fonds. Brice Dudout transcribed the key and read the pieces blind, without opening the cabinet’s clear texts: 81.8% of 7,040 words, on the Russian regiments in Poland and the Empress’s journey to the Crimea.

Date
1786–87
Read now
81.8% of the cipher tokens give sense
Write-up
deboli1787.html
Files
targets/deboli1787
Open gaps
code groups openno key known ×2hard to read on the scan

Hand this page to your AI agent

Give your agent (Claude, ChatGPT or any assistant that can open web pages) this address and ask it to do the task on the page:

https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/deboli1787.html

Or copy the block below into the chat. It is the whole task: the reading, every open gap, what has been tried, the steps, and how to report back.

TASK: take a partial decipherment further: Deboli and Gołuchowski, St Petersburg, 1787: the despatches in the older code
This page: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/deboli1787.html

You are helping a public research project finish reading historical cipher letters. This one is read in part:
the key works, but some pieces are still open. Your job is to close one or more of the open gaps below.

THE READING
  Write-up:   https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/deboli1787.html (read it first: how the text was read, the key, the reading)
  Date:       1786–87
  Outcome:    known key applied · partial
  Read now:   81.8% of the deciphered cipher tokens give sense (pieces below may be untouched)
  Files:      https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/tree/main/targets/deboli1787 (NOTES.md, key, transcription, reading, scripts)

OPEN GAPS (from NOTES.md, "## Remaining gaps")
  1. [open-codes: doable now] 1,281 unresolved words over the 14 pieces (isolated syllables that do not construe) - blocker: open-codes; partly misread digits of the despatches, partly values of 444 that do not fit, and four places where the key itself is torn or rubbed out (1215, 1216, 1398, 1405)
  2. [no-key-material: needs a new source] the key fails our 0.90 test (0.837 on the held-out pair) - blocker: no-key-material; a new test on three 1786 despatches with clears in AKP 269 is pre-registered and not yet run
  3. [illegible: needs a new source] digits of the despatches read once, on the scans - blocker: illegible; blind plates were used only where one digit changes the reading
  4. [no-key-material: needs a new source] the 9933, 3865, 12282 and 4000 pieces - blocker: no-key-material; no key of the time found (AGAD 453/454 checked)

ALREADY TRIED (from NOTES.md, "## Escalation")
  [x] siblings: ZbPop 2 (1786) and ZbPop 428 (1788) in the same code located; ZbPop 3 sorted piece by piece by opening group
  [x] clear-pages: AKP 269 holds the clears of 1786-87 (header index made); kept unopened for a blind test; ZbPop 417 for Dec 1787 and 1788
  [x] known-keys: ZbPop 444 (this key), 451 ("Chiffre François Nouveau", 1780; not the 9933 table), 445/452 (Kwilecki 1772), 453/454 (key collections 1765-1792): checked; targets/deboli1788 K4 and deboli1789 keys tried on the other systems
  [x] print: the IH PAN edition of Deboli's reports (Zielińska and Danilczyk) stops at 1782; Zielińska 2003 cites AKP 269 for 1786; no edition of 1786-87 found
  [x] key-rebuild: not needed for 444 (key of the time); v2 and v3 re-read on the key image only
  [x] retry: p07 and g3 decoded again with v3; plates Z3a and Z3G applied (v2 files)

STEPS
0. Set up. If you can run a shell, fork and clone the repository and work inside it:
     git clone https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver.git
   Then read, in this order: CONTRIBUTING.md (how a contribution is sent and credited); README.md, sections
   "Repository layout" and "Conventions" (how readings are measured and named); targets/deboli1787/NOTES.md in full, and the
   key, transcription and reading files it names; lang/README.md (shared language models).
   Work in targets/deboli1787/. Add your findings to NOTES.md under a dated heading without rewriting what is there, and
   update the "## Remaining gaps" line of every gap you close. Keep WORKLOG.md there: one dated line per step
   (hypothesis, value tried, solver run, crib, control), failures included. Do not edit docs/ (the site is generated).
   If you cannot run a shell, fetch the files from the links above and keep your work in files you send with the issue.
1. Pick a gap. Start with the ones marked "doable now" (open-codes, not-attempted, left-open): the images and the key
   are online, so they need only work. A gap marked "needs a new source" (no-key-material, too-short, illegible,
   needs-physical-access) can be closed only by something new: a key
   or a deciphered sibling found elsewhere, a better image, a printed edition or calendar, a photograph from the archive.
   For those, search for that material first, and say where you looked even when you find nothing.
2. Start from the existing key and transcription in the folder. Do not rebuild the key from scratch, and do not
   re-read parts that are already read unless you find an error in them.
3. For a code group or sign value: list every place the group occurs, show how each reads with the value you propose,
   and say what still does not fit. For a passage: re-read it at the image and give the folio and line. For a missing
   letter or leaf: say where it is held and how it can be reached.
4. Measure again. Apply the key to the whole text, write the reading file, and count the share of cipher tokens that
   give sense (not an estimate). The reading is "complete" only when (1) at least 95% of its cipher tokens give sense;
   (2) no gap is left untried; (3) every letter in it is covered; (4) what stays open is scattered code groups or names,
   or pieces blocked from outside. Otherwise it stays "partial": say which gaps are still open and why.
5. Be honest. Mark every uncertain word with [?], leave unread groups as their numbers or signs, and never fill a gap
   with a plausible guess. A gap retried and still open, with what was ruled out, is worth reporting.

REPORT BACK
With a clone: open a pull request with your changes to targets/deboli1787/. Say in the description which gaps you worked on,
  the share read before and after, and how you want to be credited (name, initials or handle, and a link).
Without one: open an issue: https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/issues/new?template=further-reading.yml&title=Further+reading%3A+deboli1787&page=deboli1787.html
  Give the write-up, the gap you worked on (its line in Remaining gaps, or the code group, folio and line), what you
  propose, the evidence (every occurrence, the images or sources), the share read before and after, your step log,
  and the tools and AI model you used.
If you cannot open issues or pull requests, write this report for your human to send. Credit goes to the person who sends it.

Open gaps

gold can be done now: the images and the key are online, it needs only work. grey needs a new source first: a key, a better scan, an edition or the archive.

Already tried

Send a result

One closed gap counts: a code group valued, a passage re-read, a key or clear copy found elsewhere. It is credited to you on the write-up.

Open a further-reading issueOther kinds of reportHow credit works← All partial readings