Was the Somerton Man Rubaiyat a 'Book Code '?

 Over the years, many have thought that the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam may have been part of the answer to the Code page that was found and associated with the Somerton Man. The thought was that the book was used as a book cipher or code.

It's a reasonable assumption especially given that there are three editions of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam that, in one sense or another, are directly involved with the Somerton Man case. Here’s the list:

1. In June 1945, a Methuen’s Seventh Edition was found with the body of George Marshall in bushland overlooking Taylor’s Bay, Sydney Harbour. The book was opened to Verse 23 and without going into too much detail here, that verse was wrongly numbered as in Methuen’s  6th edition the particular stanza was presented as Verse 26. The George Marshall case and how it relates to the Somerton Man will be covered in a later post.

2. In August 1945, the nurse known as Jestyn presented Army Lieutenant Alf Boxall with a different copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, this time it was one that was published by The Australasian Publishing Company, Sydney, This is the book that the nurse had handwritten an inscription of Verse 70 into what is known as the Inscription page of the book.

3. The third copy of the book was handed into SA Police in July 1949 following the inquest in the previous month. Whilst for may years that book was thought to have been a Whitcombe and Tombs publication, I had researched and found that in his statement given to the Inquest by Detective Brown, he had positively identified it as a Collins Version, I followed that through and the detail iof his description matched a Collins version but not a Whitcombe and Tombs publication

So there we have three different published versions of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and each with its own intriguing story to tell. 

Back to our post and its focus is on the matter of

Book Codes. 

 :a book cipher, a secret code where a specific, shared edition of a book acts as a key to encrypt or decrypt messages using page, line, and word numbers.

Book codes, as opposed to code books, have been in use for centuries and one case of particular historic interest is of course related to the American Revolution and a certain US Army officer by the name of Benedict Arnold,

Benedict Arnold and Major John Andre were on opposing sides during that conflict during the American Revolution. And a disgruntled Arnold crossed the line and betrayed his country by contacting Major Andre and organising to pass top secret information to him. Their high-stakes plot was to betray West Point and it relied on a three-number coordinate system tied to Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England and Nathan Bailey's Universal Etymological English Dictionary. 

These men flipped through their identical copies of the books, locating words and meticulously noting page, line, and word numbers, each set of digits holding a potentially treasonous secret.

Another intriguing case was that of William Sebold, the "reluctant spy" in the Duquesne ring. (FBI Link) He was recruited in WW2 by the Abwehr instructed by them to use Rachel Field's All This, and Heaven Too for his code messages.

His method was particularly clever, using the day of the month to select the page, then line and word number to encode and decode his messages. It's a stark reminder that even seemingly innocuous everyday items – like a popular novel – could conceal vital intelligence.

You Tube Video. The Reluctant Spy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UXfDO7V2GA

Another Abwehr operation known as Operation SALAAM, took place in North America, Rommel was attempting to get eyes and ears on the ground in Cairo and a well known desert explorer, László Almásy , was recruited to lead a group of men across the Sahara. The operation covered vast distances which required the setting up of a repeater radio station to pass on messages received from their men on the ground in Cairo.

Naturally they needed a code of some kind and they chose Daphne du Maurier’s ‘REBECCA’ for their book code. Link to the story of the operation here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Salam#:~:text=Operation%20Salam%20was%20a%201942,spies%20into%20British%2Dheld%20Egypt.

 I might add that there is a 1960 YouTube movie starring James Ronberston Justice, Prunella Scales and a very young Michael Caine, the movie is called ‘Foxhole in  Cairo’ a bit melodramatic but interesting: Movie here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXelLLICDFU

And now we come to our fourth example, this one is very much a tongue in cheek story by Graham Greene, ‘Our Man In Havana’ was the name of the book written by Greene and the name of the movie. It’s the story of a hapless vacuum cleaner salesman in Havana, improbably recruited by MI6. 

Our man, Jim Wormold, short on actual spy intel but long on imagination (and the need for a paycheck), starts filing detailed reports on "military installations" he had found but they bore a striking resemblance to the inner workings of a domestic vacuum cleaner. His top-secret communication method was an old-fashioned book code, with none other than Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare as the key. Movie Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX3kEx4UH3g

Greene, a former MI6 operative himself, clearly had a twinkle in his eye when he penned this in Our Man in Havana. It’s a perfect, slightly absurd illustration of how the human element – a blend of desperation, ingenuity, and perhaps a healthy dose of satire – often shapes the world of espionage.

We’ve looked here at just a few examples, there are many more but the point here is that Book codes are very real, they have been used mostly at the sharp end of espionage, by agents in the field. They are low technology, if you picked up such a book that was in use you most likely wouldn’t know it. Unless of course someone had made a note in the margin or perhaps left a 'code page’ at the back of that same book.

But book codes are more than just fodder for a good spy novel. Throughout history, when two way radio communications weren’t an option, these "pencil-and-paper" ciphers were the workhorse of cover/clandestine communication. 

I hope this has been of interest for you, I have loaded it with numerous links to further information and videos were avialable