Ranzo’s code, 1528: the letter to “Garbino” and Ranzo’s letters

TASK: take a partial decipherment further: Ranzo’s code, 1528: the letter to “Garbino” and Ranzo’s letters
This page: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/ranzo1528.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/ranzo1528.html (read it first: how the text was read, the key, the reading)
  Date:       1528
  Outcome:    ciphertext-only break · partial
  Read now:   71.7% of the deciphered cipher tokens give sense (pieces below may be untouched)
  Files:      https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/tree/main/targets/ranzo1528 (NOTES.md, key, transcription, reading, scripts)

OPEN GAPS (from NOTES.md, "## Remaining gaps")
  1. [no-key-material: needs a new source] fr. 3022 no. 20 (letter 3): 74 of 1,314 tokens not read by the bar measure (94.4%): 27 without a value in either key, 47 tentative values of Lasry's that Rosson's does not match - blocker: no-key-material. Still to do: compare both keys' readings with the images of ff. 44r-46v.
  2. [no-key-material: needs a new source] fr. 6638 (letter 5): 105 tokens not read (89.0%), mostly Lasry's unconfirmed tentative values - blocker: no-key-material; Rosson's key was built on letters 1-3 only, and this letter is not seen here (no Gallica link in Biermann's transcription).
  3. [no-key-material: needs a new source] fr. 2988 ff. 2 and 9-10 with the copies fr. 3019 and fr. 20506: 31 and 53 scattered open groups, over the read bar - blocker: no-key-material.
  4. [no-key-material: needs a new source] letter 4 (fr. 4050): decoded, not read (verify sweep 23 Oct 2026; the b33 reading `texts/letter4_reading.md` kept as a partial reading, 0.591 with every [?word] counted as a hole); 47 code types left as codes, 39 values resting on sense and list position only and about 70 single-context tentative values of Lasry (`texts/letter4_reread_log.md`) - blocker: no-key-material (each occurs once or twice in the five letters)
  5. [needs-physical-access: needs a new source] letter 4 (fr. 4050): Biermann's figures not checked on an image - blocker: needs-physical-access (fr. 4050 is not digitised: BnF notice ark:/12148/cc504711/cd0e497 has no Gallica link)

ALREADY TRIED (from NOTES.md, "## Escalation")
  [x] siblings: Ranzo's signed letters in fr. 2988 ff. 2r-v and 9r-10v transcribed (n20/ranzo_c0*.txt); fr. 3019 no. 27 (f. 73) located, the duplicate of fr. 2988 f. 2; R4450 is a copy of f. 9.
  [x] clear-pages: Clair. 327 ff. 279-280 and Clair. 314 f. 337 are 18th-c. copies without decipherment; fr. 2988's other cipher pieces are a different French cipher.
  [x] known-keys: none in the archive; Cipherbrain (2016-17) found no nomenclator. Rosson's key (6 Oct 2026) and George Lasry's key (6 Oct 2026) now exist and were measured or imported.
  [x] print: Cipherbrain 2016; Tomokiyo, cryptiana ranzo.htm (6 Oct 2026); Rosson's page.
  [x] key-rebuild: word-substitution annealer with an Italian word-bigram model, validated on an encoded Castiglione control (~46% tokens): function words only.
  [x] retry: 18 Oct 2026, the two independent keys compared token by token on all five letters (`measure_lasry.py`); fr. 2988 and fr. 20506 over the bar. Page-by-page comparison with the images for no. 20 not yet done.
  [x] retry: (23 Oct 2026): letter 4 re-read word by word with Lasry's key, Rosson's key and the code list's alphabetical order (`texts/letter4_reread_log.md`); fr. 4050 has no digitisation, so no image check.

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/ranzo1528/NOTES.md in full, and the
   key, transcription and reading files it names; lang/README.md (shared language models).
   Work in targets/ranzo1528/. 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/ranzo1528/. 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+ranzo1528&page=ranzo1528.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.