[INDIA] [BUSINESS] PRIVATE CODE BOOK

Kerala, India. Slim volume bound in red cloth bearing the title of “Private Code”, containing 40 pages of alphabetical code, from Auvne through Cunta. Variable columns per page. The meaning of each code word stops on page 33 at ‘Cokla’, although the codes for the months of the year are hand-written on page 34. Inscribed with “No. 5 / Held by / Mr. W.B. Gelniss/GeluÎss / Tatapuram”. Good+~~Tatapuram is a neighborhood in the Indian state of Kerala, along the southwest coast. Several pages of code words refer to very specific numerical values. Much of the coding is absurdly specific, particularly in the section beginning on p.29, “Re. Ground-nuts”. For example, ‘Cogyn’ means ‘The new crop arrivals are rather damp’. ~~Through the meanings of various code words and the location of the owner of the book, one can assume it belonged to a businessman operating out of the Malabar coast of India, exporting rugs, nuts, and other foodstuffs to clients in America as well as elsewhere in India, sometime in the 19th or early 20th-century. It is unclear why business dealings which do not appear sensitive in nature were encoded, who wrote the code and how, whether it is incomplete and why, or who else would have had access to this code among his business partners and customers. Having written that his is No. 5, in addition to the effort involved in binding the code-book, suggests that it was a serious effort meant for and perhaps once in use.~.