Read further · read 98.8% · ciphertext-only break · partial

R4306: a Dutch diplomatic report

Transcribed with CTTS, then solved with Opus 5.5; contributed by George Lasry. An alphabetical number cipher with nulls yields a Dutch report about passports and rival envoys. The edited reading and translation, visual key and five literal mechanical lines are supplied; four codes and historical identities remain unresolved.

Date
undated (pencilled 1632?)
Read now
98.8% of the cipher tokens give sense
Write-up
sweden4306.html
Files
targets/sweden4306
Open gaps
hard to read on the scan ×2no key knownneeds the archive

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/sweden4306.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: R4306: a Dutch diplomatic report
This page: https://dbourdeau.github.io/cyphersolver/further/sweden4306.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/sweden4306.html (read it first: how the text was read, the key, the reading)
  Date:       undated (pencilled 1632?)
  Outcome:    ciphertext-only break · partial
  Read now:   98.8% of the deciphered cipher tokens give sense (pieces below may be untouched)
  Files:      https://github.com/dbourdeau/cyphersolver/tree/main/targets/sweden4306 (NOTES.md, key, transcription, reading, scripts)

OPEN GAPS (from NOTES.md, "## Remaining gaps")
  1. [no-key-material: needs a new source] Codes 105, 106, 113 and 114 (and 101 in the address-leaf note) — blocker: no-key-material; no key with this alphabet among the 61 Chifferklaver låda II key records on DECODE (checked 18 Oct 2026), no gloss on any of R4306's three views, and five occurrences of four values are too few to rebuild the nomenclator. The R4319 template points to A/B-initial words (proposal).
  2. [illegible: needs a new source] Doubtful words and literal-versus-edited discrepancies — blocker: illegible; the scribe's tailed 0 makes 30/38 and 40/43 ambiguous on the only image, the rest are the scribe's slips, and no contemporary decipherment exists. George's restorations stand.
  3. [illegible: needs a new source] Cipher note on the address leaf (I25833, three lines, about 22 numbers, partly torn) — blocker: illegible (the 0/8 and 9/8 digit forms); Burford's reading with the tailed o = 8 gives Dutch (*ter... niet dan... in [101] na...*), to be checked digit by digit on the image. Earlier: too-short; does not read under the letter key, offsets or R4287, and is too short and damaged to fit a variant.
  4. [needs-physical-access: needs a new source] Year and sender — blocker: needs-physical-access; the letter names neither, and the wrapper date (1600–) and pencilled 1632? are archivists' estimates. Recipient read as Mr ?ilick (Wilick?), Amsterdam; only Riksarkivet provenance records could date it.

ALREADY TRIED (from NOTES.md, "## Escalation")
  [x] siblings: R4306's own two other views opened (address leaf with cipher note, wrapper); neighbouring records R4305 (key, source of the wrapper's ghost list) and R4307 checked; the group survey's unrelated systems (Bremen, Rusdorff, E 708) reviewed.
  [x] clear-pages: no historical decipherment on any of the three views; the address-leaf note is cipher, not a gloss.
  [x] known-keys: every Chifferklaver låda II key record on DECODE checked for an a=30 alphabet (wrapper labels plus page-by-page for unlabelled keys; R4319–R4321 fetched); none matches. R4296/R4310 failures credited to the earlier survey.
  [x] print: limited exact-opening and record searches found no complete printed plaintext; no priority claim.
  [x] key-rebuild: alphabet verified; nomenclator bracketing tried against the R4319 template (A/B-initial words from 101), not testable on five occurrences; no values invented.
  [x] retry: doubtful spots re-read on the page image (digit-form ambiguity), the address-leaf note decoded with the key and variants; nothing further reads.

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/sweden4306/NOTES.md in full, and the
   key, transcription and reading files it names; lang/README.md (shared language models).
   Work in targets/sweden4306/. 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/sweden4306/. 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+sweden4306&page=sweden4306.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