In 1499, a Benedictine Abbot named Johann Trithemius from Spanheim in Germany wrote the first known book on cryptography. The book, called Polygraphiae et Universelle Escriture Cabalistique, was printed in Latin, but appeared in German and French around 1561. Alas, the Abbot was accused of black magic and all copies of the book that could be found were publicly burned. The cypher used to encrypt the Cypher Manuscript was derived from this book. It was not a cypher in the true sense of the word, but was rather an artificial alphabet originally used by alchemists to conceal their secrets, and was therefore suitably occult. Waite stated that the key to the Cypher Manuscript was readily accessible in the British Museum. He believed that Westcott would be sufficiently familiar with the old literature of occultism and magic to be able to examine any of half a dozen editions of Polygraphiae et Universelle Escriture Cabalistique in order to find the key.