Are the high posts made of wood or having to do with wood? Could a wooden sign containing three words qualify?

unless it’s 3 signs = 3 posts
if 3 words in one sign, that’s still 1 post, no “s”
Ok, here’s my guess, this term “
high posts
” could be sports related, or referring to a position in occupation, or simply a wooden utility pole.

My guess is that it is idiomatic translation… “Post like a wooden post, but not a government post.”
The post in the clue need not be literally wooden, it’s just an illustration of which meaning.
Preiss would be trying to help with the language translation without giving away any clues.

ah, thanks. That tiny -s detail makes all the difference. The Secret is all about looking at the small details isn’t it?

We know that the translator spoke to BP and garnered special hints for Japanese readers; genuine unreleased clues such as which phrases were quotations. I just ran the hint for “High Post” (sic) through Google Translate and got: “It is said that it is made out of wood”. GG’s Japanese contact who owns the book translated it as: “This post is wooden”.
I’m pretty sure we can take this clue literally.

Goldengate

From what I’ve seen, every translation method that’s come back on verse 7 has concluded that the hint says the posts are wood.
My friend in Japan was very busy with work this week but she promised a complete translation on the verse two hints today.
Standby…

Full translation of the hints is complete. I’m fixing the audio screwups now.
The posts are wooden.
2 of the books came in as well, they are much smaller than I expected.

I’m only interested in the “big” one underneath….

A portion of the translation seems to advise readers that we should not necessarily be reading the verses line-for-line and attempting to decode them. Rather, we may need to read some lines together, and other lines may need to be separated to find the meaning. Also, instead of reading it as one poem, we need to think of the verses as cyphertext. But I will wait for the Official translation…

Official translation !?

Spiritr

Official translation !?

I personally do not have the ability to translate Japanese into English, so I had to rely on a certain app to help me. I am hoping for a Human who is fluent in Japanese to reaffirm what I think it says… or show me where I have incorrectly “translated” the text with the app. Basically, I am just waiting for someone who knows more than I do to translate it.

Here is a full translation.
http://12treasures.com/finaltranslation.mp3

burnstyle

Here is a full translation.
http://12treasures.com/finaltranslation.mp3

Thank you burnstyle!

burnstyle

Here is a full translation.
http://12treasures.com/finaltranslation.mp3

Listening now. Thanks burnstyle.

I am simply stunned that a Japanese version was found after all of these years. Amazing! Not to mention burnstyle was able to order a couple and receive them! WOW!!! Hopefully, these new clues will breathe new life into some of the potential solves or maybe spark old ideas or maybe even new ones.

UnprovenFact

I personally do not have the ability to translate Japanese into English, so I had to rely on a certain app to help me. I am hoping for a Human who is fluent in Japanese to reaffirm what I think it says… or show me where I have incorrectly “translated” the text with the app. Basically, I am just waiting for someone who knows more than I do to translate it.

Well, just keep this in mind, from BP to the translator, from the translator to the Japanese readers, and now the Japanese reader translate it back to English, a lost in transcriptions is guaranteed, in fact huge.
Those extra contents were there to give Japanese readers a better understanding in American English so they can have a better reading experience. So they could get a chance to play this wheelchair hunt with a USA/Canada map in Japan.
To the N.America readers, it’s a bonus source of information. If used correctly, it will better direct us, but it should NOT be taken as the “OFFICIAL” interpretation.
The N.America book is always the only official source of info contains what’s needed for the treasures.

karleen

I will weigh in, here, as I’m someone who is constantly told there is nothing in the back of the book. My thought is that Preiss felt you didn’t need it to solve it. It is possible to solve without the other parts of the book but there are things that can be helpful. Are they the solution? No, but they are helpful.
Again, my personal opinion.

Karlene, after you introduced the idea of clues in the book, I gave it a look and couldn’t believe the clues sprinkled around. Your statement makes perfect sense.

Meteor, you mention in your first post a conference end of March in SF? That’s the hardest puzzle, IMO. Post your findings either way. I’m assuming you got a permit. Funny, SF is the hardest puzzle, but the easiest to dig because of the permitting system.
Unfortunately, the permits don’t cover the most likely spot IMHO, aquatic park. My spot would be Washington square, but many clues don’t line up.
Meteor, I have another question for you. Do you feel the assumption that a latitude, longitude MUST appear in the image to be correct? I feel there’s a few images where the latitude, longitude is not there, but he used something else to hint at the city.

Meteor

Hi everyone !
I happen to be a french armchair and historical treasure hunter.
I read all the forums, and found the best and the worst things one can read. Very funny, it is the same story worldwide ! Some people are definitely sure of their solutions, but unfortunately find just a big nothing everytime, and a few hunters (about a little ten of them in my country) grab all the treasures, but never claim they are 100 % sure of their solutions BEFORE having found ! As for me, I didn’t want to be disturbed all time, this is why I several times refused to be in the Guiness book of records : we have to be humbles in my opinion, and is it my fault if I am a member of the MENSA with a score of 148/150 ?
I will be quite soon in the US, where I come at least 4 times a year for professional reasons since a long time, and I hope to dig out a casque. Just after deciphering the riddles, what I have been doing since 1986, when I found my first treasure hunt, BTW the very first organized in France. Since then, I dug out 38 treasures that had been wrote by 29 different authors, in France and UK.
May be my solutions are wrong, but if not, there will be a third casque found before the end of March… In that case, who knows ?, it is in my DNA to “read” in author’s brain, may be because myself already organized that kind of hunts sometimes ; as for the bad news, if I am not wrong in my deciphering, I think to have found the solutions of 2 more casques in “The secret”. Be safe, I dug about 41 holes to find “only” 38 treasures 😉 What means I may be wrong like anybody can be in that GAMES. Yes, we all are playing GAMES, it is not a WAR !
Please, don’t think any second I am pretentious, it is just to tell you that it would be a very great honor to find a treasure (or more, lol !) of Byron Preiss, without thinking a second to ask for the jewels. The longer last a hunt, the value for the discovery is a pity… Once more, WE ARE ALL ONLY PLAYING A GAME
!
And I will not be sad if I dig a hole where there is nothing : I will be happy of doing it, that’s all !
And if I am not wrong, I bet most of you will be happy to read at a moment the solutions of the riddles. Myself I don’t care about somebody else finding the solutions, the best moment is reading the solutions I didn’t find myself !
Happy hunting everybody !
Meteor

I would be happy to meet you…..although my MENSA membership has lapsed.

Hi everyone !
I happen to be a french armchair and historical treasure hunter.
I read all the forums, and found the best and the worst things one can read. Very funny, it is the same story worldwide ! Some people are definitely sure of their solutions, but unfortunately find just a big nothing everytime, and a few hunters (about a little ten of them in my country) grab all the treasures, but never claim they are 100 % sure of their solutions BEFORE having found ! As for me, I didn’t want to be disturbed all time, this is why I several times refused to be in the Guiness book of records : we have to be humbles in my opinion, and is it my fault if I am a member of the MENSA with a score of 148/150 ?
I will be quite soon in the US, where I come at least 4 times a year for professional reasons since a long time, and I hope to dig out a casque. Just after deciphering the riddles, what I have been doing since 1986, when I found my first treasure hunt, BTW the very first organized in France. Since then, I dug out 38 treasures that had been wrote by 29 different authors, in France and UK.
May be my solutions are wrong, but if not, there will be a third casque found before the end of March… In that case, who knows ?, it is in my DNA to “read” in author’s brain, may be because myself already organized that kind of hunts sometimes ; as for the bad news, if I am not wrong in my deciphering, I think to have found the solutions of 2 more casques in “The secret”. Be safe, I dug about 41 holes to find “only” 38 treasures 😉 What means I may be wrong like anybody can be in that GAMES. Yes, we all are playing GAMES, it is not a WAR !
Please, don’t think any second I am pretentious, it is just to tell you that it would be a very great honor to find a treasure (or more, lol !) of Byron Preiss, without thinking a second to ask for the jewels. The longer last a hunt, the value for the discovery is a pity… Once more, WE ARE ALL ONLY PLAYING A GAME
!
And I will not be sad if I dig a hole where there is nothing : I will be happy of doing it, that’s all !
And if I am not wrong, I bet most of you will be happy to read at a moment the solutions of the riddles. Myself I don’t care about somebody else finding the solutions, the best moment is reading the solutions I didn’t find myself !
Happy hunting everybody !
Meteor

May the force be with you Meteor. Which puzzles will you be digging?

drunknerds

So we have 82 in the book and 222.
Might there be a number connection?
Any other weird numbers in the book? 21? 15? 1913?

Yes, you’ll especially love The Postmonster General and the Glitches. Both seem to have cryptograms. Also, the Unreal Estate Broker photo includes two phone numbers. Might have significance. There may be more numbers, I just haven’t had time to go through it all yet.

I’m not sure these are cryptograms, technically, but perhaps an Easter Egg awaits.
The Postmonster General
Code:
Select all
…completely digital addressing. For example:
Mr. 639 7644
532 2nd Avenue
67opolis, 51st State
1st Country, 3rd World
56555555559867483948584777594737747474733 (etc.)
Glitches
Code:
Select all
What we must all do, right now, is
@#$%_&*”?:_)&*%$#.
(
note:
my keyboard didn’t have the characters for “cents” and “1/4” so i just put the “_” as placeholders.)
(also note: the symbols start out as simply the shifted chars on the numbers row 2345^78…)

The character ratio in those messages does not look like any sort of cipher.
Even if it was there wouldn’t be enough if them to break it.

While Preiss was eccentrically intelligent, if he thought they’d be solved within a year it seems unlikely that people with even above average intelligence would have been able to solve a cipher or cryptogram on this level.
Are we reading too much into it?

Goldengate

I’m with Karleen on this one. IMO these puzzles are meant to be very complex, but still accessible for anyone with some intelligence, persistance and reasonable 1982 research resources.

There are other clues in the passages. For example the glitch one reads right to left I believe. I haven’t taken a crack at it yet but I doubt it’s that complicated, and I doubt it’s gibberish. It might say, “Drink more Ovaltine”.

gManTexas

There are other clues in the passages. For example the glitch one reads right to left I believe. I haven’t taken a crack at it yet but I doubt it’s that complicated, and I doubt it’s gibberish. It might say, “Drink more Ovaltine”.

Catherwood is right it’s literally shift+23456787654 with a couple ?,.’s thrown in.

The hunt was created to capitalize on the successful book sales of masquerade, it came out in 1979 and immediately hit the New York times best seller list.
BP immediately started working on his hunt.
The rest of the book was the add on. and I have no doubt BP said hey put this in or change that…
But nothing in the rest of the book rises to a clue, we can consider them merely hints.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed listening to the Dan and Kat podcast on Masquerade. They talk about the Secret too.

gManTexas

Another interesting one is The Gnome Enclature. He is pictured in front of what I believe is a book of literary terms or other reference book. The pages are open to the section that includes words such as; odeum, Oeno, and Oedipus complex, although I’m sure that last might not pertain to our task. Maybe there something of value in this image.

The page that he is standing on is
this article
.

darkplacehospital

Yeah. Grant Park is named for Ulysses S Grant who was of Irish descent on his mother’s side. He was, I believe, the first US president to visit Ireland though it was after he left office. During his visit to Ireland he was made an honorary citizen of Dublin.

Ulysses is mentioned in the entry on Corporate Giants on P194…”blinded (by crafty Ulysses)”.

At some point you have to come up for air and realize the futility in deep diving, but then you also have to watch out for shifting sands, rambling reefs, and pollution hazards while you fight for freedom amidst the noise of the surf.
There is no clear method for extracting useful information out for the pool of highly obtuse knowledge in the fair folknfield guide. It’s diluted without any reliable means for distillation.

…yep, I think you’re right.

erexere

At some point you have to come up for air and realize the futility in deep diving, but then you also have to watch out for shifting sands, rambling reefs, and pollution hazards while you fight for freedom amidst the noise of the surf.
There is no clear method for extracting useful information out for the pool of highly obtuse knowledge in the fair folknfield guide. It’s diluted without any reliable means for distillation.

I respectfully disagree. If you read my long post above, The Field Guide alludes to certain things that are important and uses rote to emphasize certain elements. There are references that are capitalized and repeated throughout. While there are no black and white connections, we are presented with a range on confirming clues.
I still can’t imagine going through all that work to include a completely disconnected body of work. If that’s the case, they could have included a medical journal or a Treatise on Geochemistry, would it matter?

Hmm. I hesitate to call anything in the field guide a confirming clue. The problem is the fallacy of seeking validation in a broad collection of information.

erexere

Hmm. I hesitate to call anything in the field guide a confirming clue. The problem is the fallacy of seeking validation in a broad collection of information.

Alright! Thats it! who the hell are you and what have you done with erexere?????!!!!

maltedfalcon

Alright! Thats it! who the hell are you and what have you done with erexere?????!!!!

I knew that would grab your attention. The truth is, I leveled up. After many years, I stopped getting excited by the external information approach.
If anything the Rosetta stone of the book is the LotJ and the content of the Migration and the Vanishing is to be embraced with caution. That at least contains a logical framework to the events and drives relating to the Fair Folk collective.
The field guide is pure Jazz. Shame on Preiss for any subtle entries made in post.

gManTexas

I still can’t imagine going through all that work to include a completely disconnected body of work. If that’s the case, they could have included a medical journal or a Treatise on Geochemistry, would it matter?

You’re thinking the goal was to publish a treasure hunt and pad it out with silly fluff about fairies. I’m thinking he and his friends wanted to publish a book filled with their creative output, artwork, satire, social commentary, etc., and that he thought adding the treasure hunt would help get it more exposure and sales. (Why not both?)

Yes, I forget where I heard it from, sorry, but I definitely heard the hunt was tacked on to sell books. Because “we made up a catalogue” doesn’t get the $$

catherwood

You’re thinking the goal was to publish a treasure hunt and pad it out with silly fluff about fairies. I’m thinking he and his friends wanted to publish a book filled with their creative output, artwork, satire, social commentary, etc., and that he thought adding the treasure hunt would help get it more exposure and sales. (Why not both?)

Haha, we are arguing both sides of the same coin.

Analysis of the Fair Folk and Immigration links in the opening narratives
Part III
Part III: Preiss shows where to find out more about The Fair People
Cumulative Hypothesis:
– Maybe there is more to understand about the immigration references. And how they might help.
– The stories of emigration of the Fair Folk are roughly analogous to historical ‘facts’ – with some changes.
– Immigration theme is in part about the Fair Folk and THEIR New World settlement.
– Preiss uses Fair Folk narratives to give us moderate to strong hints to puzzle city/region for more than half the puzzles plus hints on Immigration Links for those places – or several NOT to make.
– The immigration theme is (at least in part) about the Fair Folk and THEIR settlement (sometimes resettlement) of the New World.
(Contains parts 1-3 for convenience)
Analysis doc:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VwFYS6 … sp=sharing
Part III Conclusion:
– Preiss put hints into the book on where to find more information about the Fair Folk.
– Among the references he used to develop the Fair Folk themes were A Field Guide to the Little People by Nancy Arrowsmith and An Encyclopedia of Fairies by Katharine Mary Briggs.
If correct, these reference materials might at worst give more insight into how the general themes of the narratives were developed and some of the possible source materials used. Or maybe there are more helpful things that might be learned…

A lot to unpack.
From what I understand, some of the puzzles have more then one nation of the fair folk in them. Ex. Chicago. Then we have to not only figure out from the passages where they landed by some of their interactions with the native Americans, we also have to figure out where the migrated to. Another example would be the Low dwarves over Manhattan, when from the passages in the book we know they landed in Massachusetts.
This is going to take some time…

Analysis of the Fair Folk and Immigration links in the opening narratives – Part IV / Final
I expect this last part will spark some strong opinions, so an aside to talk about the elephant(s) in the room.
“All you need are the images and the verses.” – “Others, not BP wrote the opening narratives.” – “BP told Sir Egbert……”
Folks all have opinions on these things, and that is OK. I’ll save mine for another post if people want to talk about those things. But I will tongue in cheek ask the following:
Roanoke wasn’t identified as a puzzle city until, what 8-9 years ago? If the English interpretation in Part II + the answers to 3 simple questions could have given you a 30-year head start on the right park, would you take it? What clues may have been lost in the meantime and would it already have been found?
– Do you know what a Pixie is?
– Do you know what they look like and would you recognize one if you saw it?
– Do you know what their main attribute is – what they are best known for?
Part IV: Individual Puzzles, The Narratives and The Fair Folk
Cumulative Hypothesis:
– Maybe there is more to understand about the immigration references. And how they might help.
– The stories of emigration of the Fair Folk are roughly analogous to historical ‘facts’ – with some changes.
– Immigration theme is in part about the Fair Folk and THEIR New World settlement.
– Preiss uses Fair Folk narratives to give us moderate to strong hints to puzzle city/region for more than half the puzzles plus hints on Immigration Links for several places – or several NOT to make.
– Preiss put hints into the book on where to find more information about the Fair Folk.
– Among the references he used to develop the Fair Folk themes were A Field Guide to the Little People by Nancy Arrowsmith and An Encyclopedia of Fairies by Katharine Mary Briggs.
Analysis doc:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gyel2GTjMEBUkw9DM3IbbAMXdQLmy3pO/view?usp=sharing
Interpretations Conclusions:
– The stories of emigration of the Fair Folk are roughly analogous to historical ‘facts’ – with some changes.
– Immigration theme is in part about the Fair Folk and THEIR New World settlement (sometime resettlement).
– Preiss uses Fair Folk narratives to give us moderate to strong hints to puzzle city/region for more than half the puzzles plus hints on Immigration Links for several places – or several NOT to make.
– Preiss put hints into the book on where to find more information about the Fair Folk.
– Historical folklore/mythology appear to provide background on how/why Preiss designed the puzzle as he did.
– Each image shows one of the Fair Folk from the pg. 10 species list – from that Immigration Link group.
– For half of the puzzles, the immigration link
MAY
be
because
of the Fair Folk in image and less Man-related.
– Knowledge of this and of folklore appear to provide puzzle-level info such as reasons for immigration links that were previously unclear – plus also solution clues, hints and confirmers. Perhaps more…
Again, my opinion only. Your mileage may vary. I have not included all of my research and interpretations here. I don’t have it all figured out and there are no magic bullets here to solve all puzzles. This is a conversation starter to lay out some of the evidence as I see it so that all can evaluate. So let’s discuss….

Spiritr

yea I have 7 copies, gave one away already
I’ll think about it

Do you have a copy that damaged?
I want to tear one apart and scan then share it… but all my copies are mint.

same here. 5 very mint, 1 brand new.
come on you have 15 of them.

Scan sounds so old school with the quality of cameras these days. Why not just snap a picture of it?

do you understand why burnstyle ask for tearing down the book for a scan?
because flatten the page can avoid wavey and result in much better quality
but that’s not the main reason,
time. it save a LOT of time.
230 pages my friend, saying it was easy, doing it is something else.

Spiritr

same here. 5 very mint, 1 brand new.
come on you have 15 of them.

Yeah. Your right lol.
I’ll get it done. More will pop up over time.

I suggest doing it in google books, much easier for people to OCR and save you time on converting as well.

We unearthed a fourth casque.
We’re the best!

things just get weirder and weirder around here.
Perhaps there’s a treasure in my Easter eggs? What say you, Goldengate?

Who here owns a copy of the full 226 page book?

im the one who originally posted about gnomes and faeries, you can watch a readthrough of the book on youtube.
theres another book with the guy from the chicago image on the cover (same illustrator as faeries book)…you are sent to gnomes/faeries book via Dore Vase in San Fran.

NYCNative

Who here owns a copy of the full 226 page book?

I need some pages from the field guide chapter of the full book.

NYCNative

I need some pages from the field guide chapter of the full book.

I have the reprint. What were you looking for?

froud, particularly, was inspired by this guy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rackham

NYCNative

I need some pages from the field guide chapter of the full book.

Goldengate

Now — who has theories about CLUES IN THE BOOK?

Having contributed to the recent misadventures in this thread due to Doctor-He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named…by way of making amends, I’ll give that a go, Goldengate.
Analysis of the Fair Folk and Immigration links in the opening narratives
What follows are my own interpretations, of course built on the work of others previous. Many same thoughts and similar theories have been discussed before, in threads like these (among others):
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=6946
– started by Erexere
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1851
– started by Fox
There’s a lot to unpack so I’ll be posting Slow Spill style, in several parts. Pasting hypothesis and conclusions below as text – with full analysis in the linked document. For anything stated as fact, I’ve tried to include evidentiary hyperlinks. My interpretive statements mostly colored in purple for reference. Hoping to get a dialog going. Nothing earth shattering in this first post. I’ve seen most of this discussed here before.
Premise:
We searchers may have an imperfect understanding of the immigration themes – why they are what they are (and where they are) and thus what they mean and how they might apply or help solve the puzzle.
Analysis document:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-GltyY … sp=sharing
Part I Conclusions:
– The Fair Folk migrated to the New World first, with Man arriving much later.
– Preiss seems to be telling us that the emigration of the Fair Folk is analogous to the real-world traditions of Man’s later ‘discovery’ and migration to the New World.
Would like to see if there is any consensus on this first bit – or not. What I would really like to ask is for others to weigh in. Do you agree/disagree?

Mister EZ

Unknown

Unknown:
USRC Harriet Lane again transferred to the Navy on March 30, 1861, for service in the expedition sent to Charleston, South Carolina, to supply the Fort Sumter garrison after the outbreak of the American Civil War. She departed New York April 8 and arrived off Charleston April 11.

I get something like:
“…gave me the name of various things and it was apparent that it was not a tree. Of course, I cannot assert that it is a tree, and I cannot assume responsibility…but personally I think it is a tree…”
…on another attempt I got:
“What is the fifth? Mr Preiss did not tell me easily, but when I gave names of various things from here on, I felt that it was not a tree. Of course, I cannot assert that it is a tree, so I cannot take responsibility even if I am. Personally, I am thinking that tree is good.”
Spiritr, could you take a look at this entry and see whether you think Preiss says it is, or isn’t, a tree…? (At the very least, it sounds like he was evasive about it, which is perhaps significant in itself.)
* * * * *
The clue for Congress, like Octave and Lane, simply asserts that it’s a noun.
The idea of Lane as a noun is interesting. Re: Charleston, the only connection I’ve found is via the
USRC Harriet Lane
I don’t know whether there might possibly be a mention in some local museum…? Haven’t found anything for Montreal yet…
As the translator points out, it might not be the name of a person, though it seems the most likely option to me.
* * * * *
“Between two arms extended / Below the bar that binds” is difficult to make out, though potentially interesting; I get something like:
“This is a very difficult way to put out a hint, but arm (arm) is an arm at any angle. However, bar basically means – horizontal bar. And there are binds (ties)” – can’t capture all of it.

Great job, Goldengate

GG has your contact mentioned any of their thoughts on the images? If you get the chance, maybe you can ask what their group makes of the symbols on the boarder of the dragon dress pleat in image one.
Thanks in advance
Jay

“Step on nature / Cast in copper” has something like: “This part is to think of a leaf, and so on. What exactly means a leaf?”
Perhaps the Oak Leaf Trail, or the statue of
Leif the Discoverer
in Juneau Park. (Being bronze, I guess it’s largely copper.)

Spiritr

how much are you willing to pay? I have 2 phone numbers here but it’s….6am in Japan….
I was hoping to buy his recorded conversation with Byron I hope such tape still exists
and all of the rights he got for this book.

or you could just try and solve it…its solvable…

Just a couple of notes.
The process that lead to this was a team effort between goldengate, myself and three other people (who I didnt ask permission to name, so I wont)
I hope that this shows everyone what team work can accomplish, as opposed to just bitching at each other about how everyone is wrong.
Secondly, I bought about 15 of the different versions of the Japanese translation. There are two different Japanese books. If for some reason the text is different I will have the second one translated as well. Because of the mass purchase, japanese sellers are starting to realize there is something special with this book. The price has gone from about $5-$10 to $100-$200 each. Be careful if you plan on buying the book. Sellers are now putting the book on a CD, and selling the CD for $100. They DO NOT make it obvious this is what they are doing. So go through the description carefully.
I do not need 15 copies, I’m going to give most of them away. Some randomly, but most to people who have been active and helpful in the community, and who do not already have a book.

Unknown

Unknown:
I’m going to give most of them away.

I would like one of these books.

Unknown

Unknown:
For me, one of the most interesting points was the fact that there seems to be a numerical match between the verse and images..

I think he meant the numbers in the Images. As we know by now, they are the easiest and surest way to KNOW which city goes with which Image. And knowing which cities contain treasure is the critical first step to solving the puzzle. Step 1A (Cleveland, New Orleans, San Francisco, Houston, Chicago, and Charleston).

Thank you for your incentives !
I am sorry, but I cannot tell details of deciphering nor where I will dig a hole. I promise that in case of a found one, you all will know many informations about how I found it. In case of a disappointing hole, I will share my ideas, except those that may be only a few meters form the casque. Just to go back there after…
In Europe, we don’t share our very good ideas as you do in America, I don’t know what. Or may be just because we thing it is crazy to tell everybody what we hardly found… But, the longer is the quest, the easiest tongues are talking !
To be frank, I worked on “The Secret” during a lot of hours and days, for a many long time. In my opinion, it is a great advantage to speak a fluent english, french and other languages, because you can “smell” easier that a line of a verse looks strange to you. Speaking french is terrific when looking at the riddles of New Orleans and Montreal.
Without telling anyone where I’ll be within a few weeks, it looks obvious for me to give you a few hints, if I may, just because I had a great help of all what has been done for years here and elsewhere :
– Did anybody noticed about the sentence graved on the Wright brothers Memorial where a word is wroten in the verse : “Inconquerable” (french word, checked with a lot of universities) BUT on the Memorial itself it is spelt : “Unconquerable” (english word) ? Great find… if you speak french !
– Has anyone noticed that the 13 immigrants countries on page 10 of the only right source (american edition of 1982) shows the place they came from, EXCEPT for the line 12, a line being crossing the “square of Europe” all way long ? Where does it come from ? Sorry, I found it, and it is very important in my mind !
– Did you notice that on page 188 there is a help to use “somewhere” the most common letters in English words ?
– STOP
!!!!!!!!!!!! Or I will give you a lot of informations than can help too much…
I hope to find quite soon a casque, but I am not sure at all : stil the same, until the moment you found it buried, you can just suppose !
Just for information, I am quite sure of the next spot ; 99% for a second one ; 99% for the area of a third one needing to be there to find the “thing” hided in the image.
And I had nearly a few looks at the 9 riddles remaining. I looked a bit at Florida, and I wonder why nobody writing on the forums didn’t find an obvious evidence !
I swear that if I find a casque, I will tell you about what CANNOT BE IN ANYWAY A COINCIDENCE about Florida.
Best regards,
Meteor

I think Josh Cornell has relations in France.

TroubleTrover

I have one that’s already basically destroyed. The binding started to fall apart, so in the end (this was about 8 or 9 years ago before I could have imagined that the books would become so expensive and rare) I took out all the pages, got rid of the entire “Field Guide” part of the book because I thought it was irrelevant, and only kept the front section of the book with the Fair People story, the images, and the verse. I stapled them together in a makeshift binding. These days I absolutely regret doing that.

Oddly enough. Someone will still buy that lol.

burnstyle

Do you have a copy that damaged?
I want to tear one apart and scan then share it… but all my copies are mint.

I have one that’s already basically destroyed. The binding started to fall apart, so in the end (this was about 8 or 9 years ago before I could have imagined that the books would become so expensive and rare) I took out all the pages, got rid of the entire “Field Guide” part of the book because I thought it was irrelevant, and only kept the front section of the book with the Fair People story, the images, and the verse. I stapled them together in a makeshift binding. These days I absolutely regret doing that.

BTW those scans on the
http://12treasures.com/
are the best I’ve used. They are the sharpest, perhaps too sharp.
To blend everything you either should squint a bit or if your graphics program has “smooth” function (reverse of sharpen) you’ll notice a noticeable improvement.
It basically throws the image out of focus just slightly so to blent the pixelation. It won’t add any artifacts.
Thanks again for all your efforts Burnstyle.

Choice

BTW those scans on the
http://12treasures.com/
are the best I’ve used. They are the sharpest, perhaps too sharp.
To blend everything you either should squint a bit or if your graphics program has “smooth” function (reverse of sharpen) you’ll notice a noticeable improvement.
It basically throws the image out of focus just slightly so to blent the pixelation. It won’t add any artifacts.
Thanks again for all your efforts Burnstyle.

as an aside, the scans I sent you work better if you don’t download them. The pixelation actually helps you see things.

Looks like there are more images in the Japanese version… like this map :
(I still hope someone will share all of them…)

maltedfalcon

The hunt was created to capitalize on the successful book sales of masquerade, it came out in 1979 and immediately hit the New York times best seller list.
BP immediately started working on his hunt.
The rest of the book was the add on. and I have no doubt BP said hey put this in or change that…
But nothing in the rest of the book rises to a clue, we can consider them merely hints.

I don’t think that’s the way it works: Masquerade was a 32 page book. Feels super weird that Preiss would say , “hmm I have 20 pages, let’s tack on 200 more and hire top name talent to write an all-but-unmarketable index for puns.” Maybe things were different in 1980 than they have been for my post-1999 career, but in my experience it would be bizarre for a publisher as big as bantam to say, “alright you’ve made a hunt based on a paradigm that sells, all we need now is to increase our printing costs 10x”
Trying hard to remember where I hear the field guide came first. I don’t remember, but I also remember preiss saying he’d planned the field guide since the mod 1970s
Does anyone else remember this? Because it’s a clear memory to me.

erexere

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed listening to the Dan and Kat podcast on Masquerade. They talk about the Secret too.

I listened to them in the past, he’s a friend.
Ep#11 Masquerade =
http://danandkattalk.com/?p=110

drunknerds

I don’t think that’s the way it works: Masquerade was a 32 page book. Feels super weird that Preiss would say , “hmm I have 20 pages, let’s tack on 200 more and hire top name talent to write an all-but-unmarketable index for puns.” Maybe things were different in 1980 than they have been for my post-1999 career, but in my experience it would be bizarre for a publisher as big as bantam to say, “alright you’ve made a hunt based on a paradigm that sells, all we need now is to increase our printing costs 10x”

Not at all in 1977 the Book Gnomes came out and also jumped to the top of the New York Times Best Seller List, as the next year did Faires. I can easily see BP being inspired by that but the next year when Masquerade came out and broke all picture book records. I can see where he decided to put the concepts together.
Still I am pretty sure the hunt concept came first.

maltedfalcon

Not at all in 1977 the Book Gnomes came out and also jumped to the top of the New York Times Best Seller List, as the next year did Faires. I can easily see BP being inspired by that but the next year when Masquerade came out and broke all picture book records. I can see where he decided to put the concepts together.
Still I am pretty sure the hunt concept came first.

Oh, right I forgot about gnomes. It’s completely different from the field guide, in that it takes one species and expounds on it throughout the entire book. But I could definitely see someone new to the publshing game thinking “Gnomes sold, why don’t I make a book that has 200 different kinds of creatures!?” ESPECIALLY if he came form National Lampoon. The book my friends and I sold to NL was in similar “each page has a different thing that is outlined and explained” format

I’m just saying you can completely see the lineage here
77 Gnomes
78 Fairies
79 Masquerade
80
81 The Secret

I always assumed this was the inspiration for the Field Guide portion of the book, though maybe the Preppy Handbook was itself inspired by similar satire in National Lampoon and the like:
So the pitch would be, “It’s like Masquerade, but for grownups, with the Preppy Handbook thrown in for good measure!”

treetops

I always assumed this was the inspiration for the Field Guide portion of the book, though maybe the Preppy Handbook was itself inspired by similar satire in National Lampoon and the like:
So the pitch would be, “It’s like Masquerade, but for grownups, with the Preppy Handbook thrown in for good measure!”

I bet you are right that fills in the 1980 spot quite nicely!
77 Gnomes
78 Fairies
79 Masquerade
80 The Official Preppy Handbook
81 The Secret

maltedfalcon

I thought the Gnome Book was just a supplemental selling guide to the Carin Tom Clark Gnome statues my grandma loved to buy
Authentic gnomes had penny and an acorn somewhere on the base
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tom-Clarks-1-F … 2929317946

Analysis of the Fair Folk and Immigration links in the opening narratives
Part II
From the silence in response to Part I, I’ll take it that there isn’t a lot of disagreement on the interpretation. So here is the next installment, quite a bit more involved. Apologies in advance. Again, much has been discussed before. Maybe some new thoughts added. Interpretations mostly in purple. One aim is to organize some of what has been discussed about the narratives into one place. Doc includes Part I for anyone who may have missed.
Part II: BP provides select puzzle city/region hints and Immigration Links hints
Cumulative Hypothesis:
– Maybe there is more to understand about the immigration references. And how they might help.
– The Fair Folk migrated to the New World first, with Man arriving much later.
– Preiss seems to be telling us that the emigration of the Fair Folk is analogous to the real-world Man’s later ‘discovery’ and migration to the New World.
Analysis document:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1poNXvD … sp=sharing
Part II Conclusions:
– Preiss gives solid hints to city or state for about half of the puzzles using Native-American tribe homelands.
– There also appear to be hints for what Immigration Links tie to specific regions/cities for several puzzles.
– With a few more hints that might be reasonably linked, once a puzzle city has been identified.
– In addition, we may be specifically warned off making several Immigration connections that would be natural to try if using real-world history of European migration to the New World.
Using these interpretations:
The immigration links put into the puzzle are not just about actual history of new world settlement (Man).
The immigration theme is (at least in part) about the Fair Folk and THEIR settlement (sometimes resettlement) of the New World.

Choice

…smiling lady in image 11 is a hint to Italy. Book calls her “Mona-ciello”; Mona Lisa?

Perhaps it is just misrememberance, but with all due respect that statement is not accurate.
On page 16, when speaking about the Fair Folk that came over from Italy, what the book says is “…aboard were the Monaciello, those rotund and randy Monks of Naples…”
So BP is referring to a ‘they’ – plural – (round Monks – who are male). The word Monaciello means “Little Monk.” Not a female and so this line does not refer to the figure in Image 11.
Here is some more info about the Monaciello fair folk. Exactly in line with what BP describes on page 16.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaciello
The Monaciello ([monaˈʧjɛlːo], meaning “little Monk” in Neapolitan language) is a fairy of the tradition of Naples, Italy. He is usually depicted as a short thick kind of little man dressed in the long garments of a monk with a broad brimmed hat.

Looking at that line again the ciello is not capitalized so it is just a hyphenated word even-though Monaciello is singular (cielli plural). Another spelling is Munaciello.
Earlier he had used fictional names to describe famous people i.e. “…the Discovery of the New Found Land to the Italian fairy Colon Savanelli, an intrepidly nautical Folleto (misspelled) out of Genoa.”

you are right Kang. I got my wires crossed when saying the Alven landed in Mass. My bad. The Alven seems to have landed in upstate New york (catterskills).
I was wondering what you make of the passage about the Greeks. On the paragraph that starts, “from Hellas itself..” When I read this paragraph I am interpreting it as if the remain fair people from Greece had been transported to Heaven (isle of blessed). which is a bit confusing when we wonder how the ended up in Cleveland.
Also, Colon Savanelli. This seems like Columbus from the description just the fair people’s version of him.

NYCNative

A lot to unpack.

Unknown

Unknown:
From what I understand, some of the puzzles have more then one nation of the fair folk in them. Ex. Chicago.

Unknown

Unknown:
Then we have to not only figure out from the passages where they landed by some of their interactions with the native Americans, we also have to figure out where the migrated to.

Unknown

Unknown:
Another example would be the Low dwarves over Manhattan, when from the passages in the book we know they landed in Massachusetts.

Yes, that’s why I tried to break it up and spread it out.
I don’t believe this is the case for Chicago (my opinion). The Fair Folk in the image is the homely wrinkly creature. He is a Brownie (basically a House Elf). The other item that some people call the fairy is a somewhat camouflaged depiction of the Fountain of the Great Lakes statue that’s part of the puzzle. (Yes, JJP hid her a bit by putting wings on her, but that’s not one of the Fair Folk from Ireland or Scotland).
Image 8 has the Djinn and some say the star is a Peri because pg. 16 describes Peri as “bright and beautiful as starlight.” However tradition doesn’t hold that the
look like
a star.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peri
But possible? Maybe.
I am perplexed by Image 11. I’ve only researched that one a little, the butterfly-like fairy would fit the description of a Farfarelli. So I’m not sure what to make of the woman. She may be a Folletti. But that would be 2 then huh? I need to do more research on that one.
We don’t really need to ‘figure out’ where they migrated to. Remember, none of what I’ve discussed disputes the commonly accepted cities and immigration links. It is more an attempt to explain WHY the immigration links are what they are and where they are (and in some cases why according to BP they AREN’T a city we might try to put them in).
So where I’m interpreting the ‘conflict/squabble’ allegories as warning off from making a certain immigration match – we know where that group went. Ex. The story about the Erin/Irish in Massachusetts being upset about Celt-murdering Puritans coming there: We don’t need to figure out where they went. Accepted match is Ireland/Scotland and Chicago. That’s where they went, so no complication to figure out there.
I think there may be some crossed wires here. The Lowland Dwarves (Dutch) in The Vanishing watch the Canarsie (Brooklyn tribe) trade Manhattan to Peter Minuet. That’s why they left there. A little story that explains why we should not connect the Dutch (who established New Amsterdam / now NYC) – to NYC. But we again know where they went – Montreal. Thus the accepted Dutch/Montreal match stays in place. (I’m unaware of any hints that would put the Dutch in Massachusetts. Please elaborate if that’s what you’re saying?)

As Centaur was a hint to Greece, the smiling lady in image 11 is a hint to Italy. Book calls her “Mona-ciello”; Mona Lisa?

Choice

Looking at that line again the ciello is not capitalized so it is just a hyphenated word…”

NYCNative

…I was wondering what you make of the passage about the Greeks. On the paragraph that starts, “from Hellas itself..” When I read this paragraph I am interpreting it as if the remain fair people from Greece had been transported to Heaven (isle of blessed). which is a bit confusing when we wonder how the ended up in Cleveland.

Unknown

Unknown:
Also, Colon Savanelli. This seems like Columbus from the description just the fair people’s version of him.

Thank you for the correction on plural/singular. I was mistaken. (Edited – forgot mea culpa)
Not entirely sure what you’re saying here. Might you clarify?
The word Monaciello is not hyphenated because it’s a two-part word. It’s hyphenated because it starts on one line and continues on the next. As is the case with other nearby words and throughout the stories. This is a customary practice with printing and typesetting.
In the Google Books ebook version, Monaciello is not hyphenated, nor are any other the other indicated words. Unlike the word cliff-dwellers, which is hyphenated in both sources.
https://books.google.com/books?id=t9OCDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT14&dq=%22the+secret%22+monaciello&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwizrLTNxbniAhVvrlkKHQ1_BKsQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=%22the%20secret%22%20monaciello&f=false
In any case, Monaciello refer to a male fairy. Dressed like a monk. So it is unlikely the figure in Image 11 is a Monaciello or that Preiss is referring to her by using that name. Yes, there are other spellings and local variations as I mentioned. But description of what they look like all seem to agree.
http://www.martinrua.com/2011/10/munaciello-legendary-spirit-of-naples.html
Great question! I’m saving that for another post, as this one had too much info already. But like all of the stories of other immigrant groups in that area of The Passage – the place where all of the groups ‘go’ seem to be a euphemistic/symbolic reference to the New World (Land of the Eagle, a Nova Scotia) or generically “The West.” Here’s my take on the Greek one. They are legendary places ‘off to the west.” These sections don’t appear to me to be more specific than that as to a particular city we should be matching. We have to find those another way.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortunate_Isles
The Fortunate Isles or Isles of the Blessed[1][2] (Greek: μακάρων νῆσοι, makárōn nêsoi) were semi-legendary islands in the Atlantic Ocean, variously treated as a simple geographical location and as a winterless earthly paradise inhabited by the heroes of Greek mythology. …. Later on the islands were said to lie in the Western Ocean near the encircling River Oceanus; Madeira, the Canary Islands, the Azores, Cape Verde, Bermuda, and the Lesser Antilles have sometimes been cited as possible matches.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesperides
In Greek mythology, the Hesperides (/hɛˈspɛrɪdiːz/; Ancient Greek: Ἑσπερίδες [hesperídes]) are the
nymphs of evening and golden light of sunsets
, who were the “Daughters of the Evening” or “
Nymphs of the West
“. They were also called the
Atlantides
(Ἀτλαντίδων) from their reputed father, the Titan Atlas.[1] ….The name means originating from Hesperos (evening). Hesperos, or Vesper in Latin, is the origin of the name Hesperus, the
evening star
(i.e. the planet Venus) as well as having a
shared root with the English word “west”
.
Yes, it’s an allegory. Story with hidden meaning (that being that he is analogous to Christopher Columbus). For more info on that and the other two ‘discovery’ references, see Part I
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-GltyYTG8pvTOJRnv-TxyeYY1FhgEweO/view?usp=sharing

That’s what I meant (what you wrote). The hyphenation is word wrap and not intentional use of two words. If Mona Lisa was intended then it would read Mona Ciello (capitalized). One thing bothers me is her smile (image 11). Her lips are misplaced noticeably to the left of the image.

After processing all this and relying on the paintings/images to take me the rest of the way, I can still not figure out a good system of pairing the verses with the image. Yes, I can use the birth stones and flowers to correspond to the jewel thus the nation but then I have no idea how to make the verses fit. any ideas?

Choice

As Centaur was a hint to Greece, the smiling lady in image 11 is a hint to Italy. Book calls her “Mona-ciello”; Mona Lisa?

or maybe Monticello – maybe we are looking for something to do with Jefferson? Nice catch Choice.

I have a question for people that happen to own the Japanese edition.
Would you be able to share the images that are in the japanese version that are not in the english version ?
I saw pictures like these :
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/AnsAAOSw … -l1600.jpg
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/1ekAAOSw … -l1600.jpg
and wondered if there were more in the book ?

notice how those pages have no page numbers?

Spiritr

notice how those pages have no page numbers?

Other than stating the obvious….were you trying to make an intelligent point. You’re cryptic riddles are getting old.

…..sorry, no cryptic riddles, I was just pointing out the obvious.
if I were to make a cryptic comment, I’ll use
italic
and Uppercase letters, that’s how I usually do it..

Spiritr

…..sorry, no cryptic riddles, I was just pointing out the obvious.
if I were to make a cryptic comment, I’ll use
italic
and Uppercase letters, that’s how I usually do it..

Why don’t you just answer Mariska’s original question?

Just curious, has anyone already reached out to Bantam Books to ask if there were any other foreign language editions of “The Secret”?

Thank you all for the help. I was able to get the whole book as needed.

drunknerds

That’s great info, thanks!
And, just so the thread doesn’t get confused by sarcasm: The reprint images are garbage. There’s stuff in the wiki uploads that is clear and is impossible to see in the reprint. The publisher is lying to boost sales if they said there’s no different. I’m looking at a side-by-side right now (my reprint and the scans). IT’s garbage.

I’ve been waiting for 2 months for interlibrary loan to check it out to me. I’m still 4th in the queue.

Euhirudinea

I’ll admit that I’m not familiar with this theory NYC. Can you point me to the thread where it was discussed?
TIA

I started the convo :
https://imgur.com/a/k0OqrKc
However, from what I’ve discovered, it makes an argument for locations that people are not fond of so I dropped it.

Unknown

Unknown:
it makes an argument for locations that people are not fond of

I can’t speak for other people, by I’m partial to the Greek Garden in the CCG, and the N/W corner of Grant Park, hard by the Art Museum. Can you make an argument for those two?

slowrisingwhitebread

Has anyone ever figured out what all the letters in the fence spell out at the beginning of the book?
I know that the wiki mentions “look west” can be found in the fence and “Boston” can found in the fay’s hair, but it seems like there’s an a lot more in the fence than just “look west”.
I think I’ve figured out what’s there, but I don’t want to bother posting more if it’s already known. If what I see is true, I think it narrows the Boston search area down a little bit.

Depending who you ask, the fence does not spell anything out. The theory is that it is the actual dig sites in order. It is an interesting theory, especially since it has matched up pretty well to the sites where casques have been found and some sites that are suspected.

NYCNative

Depending who you ask, the fence does not spell anything out. The theory is that it is the actual dig sites in order. It is an interesting theory, especially since it has matched up pretty well to the sites where casques have been found and some sites that are suspected.

I agree, that is an interesting theory. I had never heard that before. I’ll have to take a look at it again and see what I can see.

I didn’t really see cities in there, but I’d be open to it if someone could give examples. Mostly, I just see what I saw before:
“look southwest of highway 2A”
If that’s what it really says then it rules out the North End and narrows it down to Charlesgate, Back Bay Fens, BU areas. So still lots of potential spots to search.

Unknown

Unknown:
The theory is that it is the actual dig sites in order.

I’ll admit that I’m not familiar with this theory NYC. Can you point me to the thread where it was discussed?
TIA

Euhirudinea

I’ll admit that I’m not familiar with this theory NYC. Can you point me to the thread where it was discussed?
TIA

Of course.
http://quest4treasure.co.uk/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=7358&p=145984#p145984

Has anyone taken an image of the fence and overlaid what words they see using MS Paint or something ? (I’m thinking other than “Look” which is easy to see and “Boston” in the creature’s hair.)

Kalessin

Has anyone taken an image of the fence and overlaid what words they see using MS Paint or something ? (I’m thinking other than “Look” which is easy to see and “Boston” in the creature’s hair.)

You can read the thread that i just posted I link to. Nobody really posted their research regarding the fence page. It would be a great idea though.

Unknown

Unknown:
You can read the thread that i just posted I link to.

Unknown

Unknown:
NYC said: The theory is that it is the actual dig sites in order. It is an interesting theory, especially since it has matched up pretty well to the sites where casques have been found and some sites that are suspected.

I did. There is very little substance to it, and none once the thread devolves into a pissing contest. Certainly nothing that would support the following statement:
An easy test would be to see which panels match up with the two solved puzzles, and in what way. Presumably, they would correspond to the first few panels since most people agree that both Cleveland and Chicago are amongst the most basic of the twelve. The OP was asked several times to include this information, but she declined. Which is her right.
Thanks for the reply NYC.

No problem.
I don’t see it either. I see the Boston, I guess. The “t” doesn’t really look like a ” t” but other then that, ok.

Someone sent me an mspaint diagram for the front of the book showing digspots like… a year ago. I think it was the same poster.
If I remeber correctly she had just started researching it and it didnt make a whole lot of sense at the time.
Then she moved on to the 12 tribes stuff. I’m not sure if she picked the gate back up or not.
(Nm I was confusing karleen with someone else)

I’m particularly interested in the artwork that’s not in our books .cool as hell

Euhirudinea

I seriously doubt that he thought that at all. In fact, I’m pretty sure he knew that it couldn’t, at least not with the tools available in 1983. But that’s the myth BP had to peddle, whether the buyer was in Boise, or Bangkok if he wanted to maximize sales.

I suspect the rules would have applied differently if you sent an letter from Japan saying I suspect the Chicago casque is in Grant park lined up with a fence and fixture at the end of an array of trees behind the Lincoln statue. He probably would have said yes you are correct! I will get it for you.
if you sent the same letter from Chicago, he said here is a picture of the location exactly go dig it up.

Unknown

Unknown:
Maltedfalcon wrote:
I have determined the site of a treasure, but I am unable to explore it.

I
suspect
you are incorrect. The rules would have been exactly the same, regardless of where you lived.

Euhirudinea

I
suspect
you are incorrect. The rules would have been exactly the same, regardless of where you lived.

Agree to disagree, already we can see the Japanese book had colloquial glossaries that versions sold in america did not
and while we probably didn’t need them
I can see where we have argued over the interpretations of those words in the glossary so in reality we were just as confused as others outside the country would have been.

Unknown

Unknown:
for the last part, was it a Spanish/Jap book or a English/Jap book?

Wait for it…

they can’t ship to US , I placed the order with quick check out, I got the thank you page, then check back 20 mintures later, it saids address ships within Japan only..
Amazon doesn’t have such options in Japan, and this is how it always been in Japan, sigh….

…just came across this article; maybe you can get around it with a “reshipper” like Tenso…?
https://ridwankhan.com/buying-and-shipp … f8ec62a92a

WhiteRabbit

…just came across this article; maybe you can get around it with a “reshipper” like Tenso…?
https://ridwankhan.com/buying-and-shipp … f8ec62a92a

it’s so confusing , I’ll check it out later after lunch or something
but man, look at this, $8!

…I should start by going to tenso.com and signing up. It’s pretty easy to register and you can see your “Japanese address”, but it looks like they require you to upload a copy of one of the listed documents as proof of identify (passport or whatever) to verify your account before going any further, and I bailed at that point.
Back in 2010 I was able to pick up a mint copy on amazon.co.uk for 50p…and I chucked my old one away…

I actually like this name a lot
Fairy’s Treasure Box
that’s kinda weird to me, 2 20 2…
was it really a 1982 book? But Byron Preiss Publishing and the printing quality doesn’t looks pirate to me
because a lot of pirate books in asia, those translations were all done by computer, so it would make sense that it’s computer translated,
but it actually read pretty smooth to me…
for the last part, was it a Spanish/Jap book or a English/Jap book?
I was listening to the podcast the other day when talked about how Byron was into comic books, in my mind I was like…..he’s in the wrong country for comics, especially in the 80’s
Now seeing it in Japanese, maybe I should see if there’s one in Chinese

OMG I found it, 1983, 3 available for $25.23.
Done, got’em all already

the verse goes:
or gaze north toward the isle of B.
look up that tiny island’s B version.
if I was right, that’s hiding a clues to the extreme!
it’s in the Japanese version. great find goldengate,
you don’t know how bad I wanted those image in shinny papers, now for only $80 I got 3 copies, THANK YOU!

Haha, well spotted Spiritr!
おめでとうございます.

wait a minute….the sound of a Japanese v ビ is exactly like a Spanish β.!
Japanese have no”v” sound, they only have “bi”
oh no, they don’t ship to US…….

…………………………..
I’m gonna get it, RIGHT NOW!
that sound’s more like he’s give you the answer’s and not instructions,
the first line reads “this is per translator’s understanding”….
2 20 2, his translation was Mountain, Rivers, and Street…..
that’s not translation, that’s transformation!
And I’ll point out the anything unusual along the wait, so far, I see…. they have a “Higher/Upper Class Fair people”
Cathy is officially called CHINA , and …..Cyprus, and Egypt, instead of what we had Italy and Libera.

NEXT PAGE PLEASE~~~~~
btw the title cleary reads “Fairy’s treasure box”
she used Japanese to transcript Japanese and apply it in English, that’s how you got BOOK, and in Jap, that’s a children’s book..

Goldengate

Okay, everyone, here’s an update:
I’ve been communicating with the Japanese owner of this book (who, yes, lives in Japan) and she’s generously taken additional photos to share with the group. As you can see there are quite a few images between the covers that are NOT found in any US printing! But more important, in our discussions, she’s provided some very interesting additional information.
a) This is the first (possibly only) printing for the Japanese market, translated and published in 1983.
b) This Japanese title of the book is not “The Secret” but rather “Fairy Book”
c) Here’s what may be the most important element: Pages 233 onward contain hints from BP exclusively to Japanese readers! The translator called BP in 82 or 83 before publishing and from what it sounds like… BP provided hints specific to Japanese readers who may not know about certain elements of Western culture, customs, details of cities, etc. This may be totally benign, BP could have just rehashed information he released in press interviews he did when the book was published in the US. OR in that conversation with the translator, he could have let loose with a couple juicy clues we’ve never received — maybe intended for an audience he figured would likely never travel to the US and dig. I do my best to try and not to peddle hyperbole, but if it’s true that BP added printed clues for this publication, it could be a big deal for us all!
She is currently translating those pages to see if they’d be of any help to us. Please be patient, it’s going to take a while. I’ll update information as I get it.
What I’d love most is if the information she provides unveils a vital clue that unlocks one or more casque locations! The idea that it may take an international team working together to solve this puzzle feels like it taps into the very spirit of the book itself.
Please be patient on the translation, since she’s on the other side of the planet, I may not receive it until tomorrow at the earliest. Also please note the pages will likely not be in order when I upload them below.

This is so cool, GG! Thanks for posting.

Amazing discovery! Thanks GG. Look forward to seeing more of these…

oh no, no, that’s not what this page and the lines are for
Japanese doesn’t use “space” much, they read word per word, and those are not key words, that is there for Japanese kids to understand easier
for example, with out the translation, “No Lion fears” , would mean without the Lion I’m scared, or don’t scared of Lions, so that’s why it needs explanation.
I can get the transcript out the the whole book in less than an hour without editorial check.
Might as well just send it to me , I’ll DO it. and I do this EVERYDAY! Part of my job is to read and translate English to Japanese Chinese and S. Korean. JUST LET ME DO IT!

…I wanna see the notes on the Boston verse…

Goldengate

She is currently translating those pages to see if they’d be of any help to us. Please be patient, it’s going to take a while. I’ll update information as I get it.

The google translate app will do it in a few seconds. Works best with a straight on shot of the page but I was able to translate (mostly) one of the images you uploaded.

WhiteRabbit

…I wanna see the notes on the Boston verse…

ntgu, or hint) ent Free.peech,. rant white. It is said that ← toki and couplet two rows, please t1. 3rd verse riri “siii couplet fII Thucydides shake xe7tik: 2 trll Xenopbon s EII green tower of lights a tiIl coliseum 9 til metal walls 11 lines 11 15 lines 11 Eighteenth day 16 tFII Twelfth hour What is not famous for Kotojun? Stairs 5 poetry words) a mn Lane Two twenty tw 3 lines 11 of of lights fi I Weight and 17 till lamplight (Keys [For hidden meanings or third poems, there are things, hints turned into answers It will not be long ago · a hint can be obtained wingless bird white stone cl_st line 11 fourth 4 line 11 (key · word) 1 11 countries There is a meaning, or hin) or 4 ‘ Here it is famous 倢 bt Lateit.Ill famous, it is proper noun and diarrhea, what kind of & R ___ ___ __ 1 ___ __ 1 ___ __ 1 ___ __ 1 ___ __ 1 ___ __ 1 ___ __ 2 ___ 0 1 2111 curves 3 til rectangular 4 till tenth store 6H 11 ninth row 7 frll small bricks 8 IrB Seven steps up 4 eq weight and roots: 9 till w ngles bird literally It seems that it is good to cover / to NCnteu.-Rnas. ___ ___ ___ ___ 0 ___ ___ 0 ___ ___ ___ 0 ___ ___ ___ 0 As you say, think about thinking law with sex. This wineless 239 238
Lol diarrhea the translation needs work I hope or the translator punk’d BP

…just the idea that BP (apparently) thought the thing could be solved without visiting the country back in 1983 seems pretty astonishing…

those mean numbers of line, and of that line, the word, and the meaning of it
BUT
the way he explains certain things was something I won’t understand if today is 1983, because the pace of their everyday life is so fast to a point a word or phrase used 20 years ago would mean completely different today, especially in Japan, HK, the pace of these Asian cities were known to be fast. That’s why I like USA, nothing gets outdated.

申し訳ありません、
翻訳しても構いませんが、
ちょうど私に写真を直接送ってください、ありがとう
just copy and paste to her, when she send you the picture, you just post it up, I’ll make a ranscript when I see it.
私の友人は私を助けます、英語の手書きは違う、それはあなたにありがとう
that’s to thank her for her friendly help, ….

Unknown

Unknown:
…just the idea that BP (apparently) thought the thing could be solved without visiting the country…

I seriously doubt that he thought that at all. In fact, I’m pretty sure he knew that it couldn’t, at least not with the tools available in 1983. But that’s the myth BP had to peddle, whether the buyer was in Boise, or Bangkok if he wanted to maximize sales.

BP suggested the word “drum” for “as you walk the beating of the world” to find the name of a famous/important person and I presume have that be in connection with a path or roadname in MKE. Could we be looking at some synonym options? How close is the Japanese translation for Thesarus to Dictionary or Encyclopedia?
Could drum could be Cooper, a barrel crafter?
Could drum be a hint for another language word like the German Trommel, or tambour, or Tom (like tom-tom, a kind of drum).
Could we be looking for a street that is similar in name to a well known drummer? Remember this is the German puzzle, so Led Zepplin for example would give us John Bonham. How about Burnham street?
Initially I had thought that verse line was a good connect for Wells or even W Wi streets…this is some next level cryptography or something…

What Burnstyle’s Japanese interpreter says is:
“Beating” is referring to a drum, and the spelling of drum is: “drum”. The hint is that you need to find the name of a person…Find the word “drum” in an English dictionary, and then look somewhere around the word “drum” and you will find the name of the person…it sounds like you’re going to have to work for it.

Yeah. He said we’ll have to work hard for it.
What is the deal with using the word “world”?
Is it suppose to be a build in hint like “around the world” means “around the word”?

If BP was not referring to Kenwood Dennard the drummer, he could have been referring to a Kenwood drum table.
(I have not yet found out why it is called by that name.)
It’s neither here nor there…because the clue did mean to
steer us to Kenwood Blvd, which it did.

It’s probably already been discussed, but I missed it…
But the verse 8 clue about “The beating of the world”, said to look in the dictionary at the word “drum” and you would find a name nearby that was associated with “Drum”. I know that the line in verse 8 is referring to Kenwood Blvd … so I Googled on Kenwood Drum. Lo and behold, up pops the name Kenwood Dennard! Wikipedia gives his “drum beating” info, and he was born in NYC in 1956, which includes the correct years for BP to have known about him and include him in this reference.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenwood_Dennard
We came up with the right street, but did not actually get the correct reference before…

No way! Good idea AP!!

Idk about that one he would have only just started his career when the book came out. The wiki link said he was in school until 1976 giving him only 3 or so years to build a career before BP started the book.

Seems Kenwood was a prodigy!
More info…
http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Ke … nnard.html

animal painter

Seems Kenwood was a prodigy!
More info…
http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Ke … nnard.html

Great job on this!

Kenwood is a Japanese company, I would think if a person in Japan looked up Drum in the phone book yellow pages (before internet) the Kenwood corporation would have had a listing. Especially back in its hay day when it was one of the front runners in the music/electronics field.

How about Dylan?

BP was pretty clear that you need to find a person by looking near the entry for “drum” in a dictionary, like
Drummond
. But TBH these Japanese “hints” are even more difficult than the original verses.

Drumpf!

I have the Japanese book in my hand, and I don’t need google for translation (because it’s inaccurate and misleading)
“Drum” is a keyword you search or looking up with a “big dictionary”
But the “key” is what goes before or after “Drum”
meaning…..something like “Ddrum” or “Drumm” and it’s a name or someone

Goldengate

Correct. From a young artist in Mexico who is interested in the hunt! Will be updating with more information.

Did anyone ever turn up more info on this apparent Spanish edition? Did it actually exist…?

Choice

Thanks Kang. I’ve found some of the information pre images/verses useful…Do you have any opinion on the new images/text in the Japanese version of the book, specifically the Dean/Monroe picture?…

Thanks Choice. I’m a little behind on some of the added stuff in the Japanese version (I have some catch up reading to do). So I found an image of the page you’re talking about with Monroe, Dean and SD Jr. I’m sure some of the veterans here might have opinions more worthy than mine – and any ideas I might have would be pure speculation. However, my viewpoint is that I’m skeptical of anything being a clue (that I would lean on) unless it can be proven or strongly inferred to have been the work of either Byron or JJP. I looked, but did not see JJP’s initials on that illustration. Though others worked on the project – photographer, the Lampoon guys, Trilling etc. – it seems to me that BP/JJP were involved with encoding the puzzles clues while others were not.
Maybe I’m just behind, but I haven’t seen any indication that either were the source of – or caused that illustration to be inserted into the Japanese book. Is that correct? If so, I think it might be reasonable to infer that it may have been the Japanese publisher that inserted it as a bit of marketing. I understand in Japan that they’re big fans of American pop culture, Hollywood, products they see as “American” such as blue jeans and the like. Like “Hey, if you like cool American culture stuff – buy this book – it’s cool too!” That’s speculation as well, but just the vibe I get. And of course Preiss’s hints are a different story….

WhiteRabbit

Did anyone ever turn up more info on this apparent Spanish edition? Did it actually exist…?

I looked into it a while back. I think that’s actually a Spanish edition of Dragonworld.

Kang

Though others worked on the project – photographer, the Lampoon guys, Trilling etc. – it seems to me that BP/JJP were involved with encoding the puzzles clues while others were not.
Maybe I’m just behind, but I haven’t seen any indication that either were the source of – or caused that illustration to be inserted into the Japanese book. Is that correct? If so, I think it might be reasonable to infer that it may have been the Japanese publisher that inserted it as a bit of marketing. I understand in Japan that they’re big fans of American pop culture, Hollywood, products they see as “American” such as blue jeans and the like. Like “Hey, if you like cool American culture stuff – buy this book – it’s cool too!” That’s speculation as well, but just the vibe I get. And of course Preiss’s hints are a different story….

It’s important to remember that all of these people literally worked side by side with each other when this book was published.
Also from what I understood, there were a decent amount of pictures and illustrations which did not make the book. It’s very possible this was left over art that was added due to the additional pages changing the book from an even to odd number of pages… or vice verse.
It could also just as easily be, as you said, added by the Japanese publisher.

It could be that Preiss or one of the co-authors of The Secret had an idea or some material for a book rattling around, a parody of the then-popular (
very
popular) “Gnomes” book by Wil Huygen (a guide to Gnomes, profusely illustrated and written in a “in-universe” style) and “Faeries” by Alan Lee and Brian Froud (also profusely illustrated and written in an in-universe style). These two books and their sequels sold very, very well.
So someone might have been thinking of a parody project, a snarky comedic guide to the Fair Folk, riding on the coattails of these books.
If the Guide to the Fair Folk idea landed on Byron Preiss (or came to him in a flash of inspiration), and he was looking to capitalize on book trends, and he had another not-quite-completely-fleshed out idea for a treasure hunt to capitalize on the success of “Masquerade”, why not combine two strong-selling ideas into the same book, then promote it as both a treasure hunt and a fantasy creatures guide? It’ll sell millions!
This might be the reason why The Secret feels like two separate books mashed together.

I took some time to read all 75 of the Fair People entries in the section titled “A Field Guide to the Fair People of the New World”. I read them a few times. If we were starting from square 1, this section would be extremely valuable for beginning to narrow down some clues to the various locations of the caques. There are a ton of references to various historical events and locations, even though it’s done through the paintbrush of satire. These sections are not neatly compartmentalized in the sense that one corresponds to a certain Verse, Image or location. Rather, there are repetitive themes and words that appear throughout. I believe that this section may have served as a fall back if people did not find the longitude and latitude clues.
By reading this section, we can better understand the themes that were being emphasized. There are also words that keep appearing and I would love to do a word cloud on the section. If anyone knows of a good utility to create one, please let me know.
While the section is rooted in popular culture from the early 1980s, much of it still rings true today.
Now, for the difficult part, deciphering and using the info. I believe the best way to approach it, if you are so inclined, is to absorb the info and see what pops out as connections or reinforcement. It is actually quite easy, since we generally know the locations of the casques, even though we may not know the specific locations. Clues like “jumping contests of celebrated frogs” or “extinct robber barons” or “puritans” or “a square-mile sized” can give us indirect clues to help direct the hunt in ways possibly not considered when only looking at Verse – Image pair.
I get that they needed to fill a book. But I also believe that the content is relevant. While it may not be “hard data”, it has value. It’s even possible that Preiss was trying to consider that some people who are more literary, might like to make connections via the prose more than the Images and Verses. I like that some people have started cracking into this part of the book and shared their observations. Let’s keep it up!
This brings me to the next point, images. There is a mix of photographs and illustrations in this part of the book. I think the illustrations are more valuable, but I am not discounting the photos. It seems that there are hidden messages and imagery in these as well. I think we can gain some info from the images. One in particular is the illustration associated with Corporate Giants. This is not even a play on words, but a bold statement on the role of huge corporations in society. Anyway, the illustration at the end has factories with smokestacks spewing pollution in the middle of nature. There appears to be at least one face and some words in the smoke. Also, to me, out of the locations being searched, it looks most like San Francisco (or near to SF). Another interesting one is The Gnome Enclature. He is pictured in front of what I believe is a book of literary terms or other reference book. The pages are open to the section that includes words such as; odeum, Oeno, and Oedipus complex, although I’m sure that last might not pertain to our task. Maybe there something of value in this image.
I do think that some of the entries of Fair People are pure filler. I think part of the challenge is to sift through and glean the important stuff.

Title on page 88:
Team Spirit
Rosa petrus aka canis calidus
Rosa petrus:
Pete Rose (Italian interpretation)
Rose rock (Latin)
Pink rock
Canis calidus:
Hot dog (Latin)
page 89, NY Mets + SF Giants photo
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1191&hilit=monte+irvin&start=117
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=7352&hilit=monte+irvin&start=1
Retired #20
http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/h … umbers.jsp

erexere

VERY nice work, Kang!
… I could also believe the fair folk of Araby liked the backwards chronologically named Texas as it has a similarity to the word textiles. It’s as if the name of Texas was influenced by the fair folk who settled there previous…

Thanks erexere! Yes, with the mention of ‘carpet-weaving’ that may very well be an added wordplay clue. I kinda like that one, the more I think about it actually.

Thank you WhiteRabbit and NYCNative. And yes, I’m going to give it a couple more days for folks who maybe haven’t visited in a bit to catch up on Parts 1-3. Likely will post the last part this weekend.

Burnstyle is an artist….

Awesome picture.
(Shame there isn’t an actual ‘extra clue’ button for the puzzles…)

ok, wow, because I don’t have a facebook account, can someone give more details of this drawing? Anything helps, Thanks~

as in sarcasm?
Please excuse my curiosity but I don’t get it…..what do you mean by It’s satire?

I also didnt draw that.
Stercox found it in some of her old stuff.
She says she cant remember exactly who drew it… but said the artist died.
She said it was posted here somewhere.

Burnstyle, can you ask Stercox to see if she can search and find out who did this drawing? And how did it end up in her old stuff?
when did the artist draw this? Can you scan it? I think it looks really neat.

we need a monument to those who have died in pursuit of the Secret…
there should be one for the Thrill of the Chase too…
and a support group for those who have crossed over into some realm of insanity…

make one for Josh then LOL

Spiritr

as in sarcasm?
Please excuse my curiosity but I don’t get it…..what do you mean by It’s satire?

It is a joke. Not real. Fake. Humorous. Poking fun at the hunt. Lampooning.
Like saying there is a casque buried in the basement of the Alamo.

Spiritr

Burnstyle, can you ask Stercox to see if she can search and find out who did this drawing? And how did it end up in her old stuff?
when did the artist draw this? Can you scan it? I think it looks really neat.

All of us have been looking, no one can find it.

erexere

we need a monument to those who have died in pursuit of the Secret

That’s good, I’d put some flowers there.
Where though…? (Not in Central Park.)

Unknown

Unknown:
so it’s possible this could be either a clarifier or game changer for at least a couple cities.

Sure, that’s always possible (at least, until all the remaining casques are dug up out of the ground). And it could be nothing new at all. Just more information that confirms what most of us already know, or should. I’ll consider the former when someone (myself included) finds some connection that is easier and more logical than the connections that have already been made. To date, and excepting the three examples I stated previously, I see no evidence that those connections exist beyond what Preiss might have said to a translator. And unfortunately, I am all too familiar with the dangers of taking anything he might have said literally. Especially as I become more and more convinced that we have everything we need to solve these puzzles already. And that Preiss, above all, was convinced of that as well.

drunknerds

The publisher is lying to boost sales if they said there’s no different. I’m looking at a side-by-side right now (my reprint and the scans). IT’s garbage.

If you look closely what you will see is they say the text in the books is the same.

Wicket

I do realize the time frame, thank you.
No, people said there is no information in the book. And, if there was info in there, my application was wrong. How would anyone know that?

No one really knows what information is or isn’t relevant. It’s all speculation until there is a discovery. The point of this thread is to discuss these things.
It seems like the point of your post is to take credit for the general idea and to make yourself some type of victim of The Secret forum bullying. Neither is the case.
Just my $0.02

Wicket

I spoke with the publisher and he said there was no difference between 1982 and now. I think the big deal was if some of the print had been changed or not.

I got this joke, and enjoyed it.

drunknerds

Only the reprint, with all-too-dark images, is being sold on sites right now. Good if you want to have is and read the fairy stuff. Not good for image reproduction.
Someone put an original copy on ebay last month and it went for ~$600

I think someone wanted to look at print, not pictures so a reprint is fine. I spoke with the publisher and he said there was no difference between 1982 and now. I think the big deal was if some of the print had been changed or not.

Unknown

Unknown:
It’s all speculation until there is a discovery.

It’s not all speculation. I think we are good with the Image/Verse/City connections and think we should use those as the baseline for any new ideas regarding what happens next.
Just my two pennies.

BINGO

You do realize that this thread is named “Clues in the book” and that it was created 2 days BEFORE you joined the site?
I doubt anyone was laughing at your statement. Possibly just your application of the information within the book.

I do realize the time frame, thank you.
No, people said there is no information in the book. And, if there was info in there, my application was wrong. How would anyone know that?

Unknown

Unknown:
No, people said there is no information in the book.

People say that because that is the way it was reported:
5. B.Preiss was a very good poker player, and was not giving out any hints about any of the other locations. However, he did confirm my theory that the countries of origin of the faeries do connect with the sites. He also said that the pages following the verses (which make up the bulk of the book) have NO connection with the puzzles, and contain no additional clues. (
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1126
)

Euhirudinea

It’s not all speculation. I think we are good with the Image/Verse/City connections and think we should use those as the baseline for any new ideas regarding what happens next.
Just my two pennies.

Clarification: I was talking about this particular thread. The clues in the field guide portion of the book are being speculated. My opinion, not trying to speak for others. Keep your change.

BINGO

No one really knows what information is or isn’t relevant. It’s all speculation until there is a discovery. The point of this thread is to discuss these things.
It seems like the point of your post is to take credit for the general idea and to make yourself some type of victim of The Secret forum bullying. Neither is the case.
Just my $0.02

Just trying to find out if an original was needed and to pass on the info. I spoke with the publisher to see. That way if you are inclined to search the book you can feel ok using a newer print. And maybe I do feel bullied but I definitely don’t feel the need to take credit. It was tongue in cheek, sometimes it is hard to convey the inflection of a voice.
As far as speculation, you made my point.

I’m of the opinion that the original is not needed but it may prove more helpful when solving one of the more difficult puzzles.

Just to reiterate for those needing better images. If you use worldcat.org, you can search by author name, etc. I used “Byron Preiss The Secret” for my search. It pulls up The Secret, but then you have to click on “view all additions”. Then click on 1982 edition. You can then put in your zip code and it will list libraries closest to you then working outward.

Wicket

Just to reiterate for those needing better images. If you use worldcat.org, you can search by author name, etc. I used “Byron Preiss The Secret” for my search. It pulls up The Secret, but then you have to click on “view all additions”. Then click on 1982 edition. You can then put in your zip code and it will list libraries closest to you then working outward.

That’s great info, thanks!
And, just so the thread doesn’t get confused by sarcasm: The reprint images are garbage. There’s stuff in the wiki uploads that is clear and is impossible to see in the reprint. The publisher is lying to boost sales if they said there’s no different. I’m looking at a side-by-side right now (my reprint and the scans). IT’s garbage.

wicket the issue isn’t content but image quality in the reprint.

burnstyle

The entirety of the book has been put online. it is searchable and allows comments.
The text is not formatted the same way as the book (especially in the fair folks guide) and I’m told that may be important… so you may still need to buy a copy of the book.
Color versions of the fair folk photos are added when available.
https://12treasures.com/american-2/

This is really cool Thank you for posting. This is my goto site for any quick reference

burnstyle

The entirety of the book has been put online. it is searchable and allows comments.
The text is not formatted the same way as the book (especially in the fair folks guide) and I’m told that may be important… so you may still need to buy a copy of the book.
Color versions of the fair folk photos are added when available.
https://12treasures.com/american-2/

The Fair Folk look so much better in color photos. Thank you!

Kalessin

The Fair Folk look so much better in color photos. Thank you!

Are those from National Lampoon Mag.?

WhiteRabbit

“Step on nature / Cast in copper” has something like: “This part is to think of a leaf, and so on. What exactly means a leaf?”
Perhaps the Oak Leaf Trail, or the statue of
Leif the Discoverer
in Juneau Park. (Being bronze, I guess it’s largely copper.)

I dunno…seen two different interpretations, one that approaches the grand staircase in Lake Park from the North and one that approaches it from the South, through Juneau….could be either.
But, Oak Leaf Trail goes through both Lake Park and Juneau (with its statue of Leif).
Fairy secrets come in twos….?

It was the best of clues. It was the worst of clues. A tale of two cities was part of a 3 volume set. Bundled with a few other stories.

Spiritr

Looks like you’ve beaten me to it, I was only able to cop 2 copies of the “normal” edition($2&$8), and 1 copy of “J-pop” from Taiwan, which is a little expensive($30)but it’s brand new and sealed, it should be here sometimes this week.

Were they imported or originally sold in Taiwan? Either way two of mine are new and contain a bunch of inserts. We need to compare these and see if anything is different.
Can I convince you to destroy one and scan it, or figure out a way to scan it without destroying it?

Wouldn’t it be funny if the answers to the riddles are written on a piece of paper rolled up inside the binding, and the first person to destroy their copy wins all the remaining prizes? That would be funny.

inserts? what kind of insert?
it’s a import, so it’s still the original “Jpop”, I found it in a Japanese online flea market, the listing was from Taiwan, so I just bought it, I made a phone call to the seller to confirm it’s the same book. He send me pictures of the front and back, that’s how I know the front is image 5, back is image 2. The book is sealed, brand new, I’ll be the first one to open it of course. As far as scanning it…I think you’ll do it anyway, LOL. Right?
And something I’m curious, the 1st casque was already discovered before 12/7/1983 right?
I wonder if that’s the reason image 5 was used as the cover, if so, you think it’ll be mentioned in the content?

burnstyle

It’s better and worse.
The quality of the actual printing seems better. The American version images are comprised of small colors dots that make up the whole image. Japanese seems much tighter and richer than that.
The downside is they are a bit darker and much smaller.
I’m going to scan them soon.
I’m waiting for the jpop covers to come in. I have more of those so I dont mind destroying one.

Looks like you’ve beaten me to it, I was only able to cop 2 copies of the “normal” edition($2&$8), and 1 copy of “J-pop” from Taiwan, which is a little expensive($30)but it’s brand new and sealed, it should be here sometimes this week.

Don’t be sad about your doppelgänger Merlin’s whining. You probably just forgot what account you were logged into that day. That Fenix guy must be a cool dude though, you’re obsessed with him.
Okay, back to the regular scheduled programming. Can’t wait for your new scribbles!

Sad that you pretend not to be Fenix. I recognize your rash style of writing.
And you had a wimpy cipher in your signature area for 5 minutes when decoded read “Fenix is back bitches”
I’m sure Mark Parry has the record of this if you insist on hiding.
Merlin is cool and has nothing to do with this. We have no communication.

Hammersmith

Everything I have seen quoted from Byron Preiss says that the clues are only in the images and verses, but a wiki user had a phone call with John Palencar back in April and he was quoted as saying, ” He said that there is more clues in rest of the book. The Tale Simply Told & Passage To The New World. That the immigration story was important to him (Byron).”

Choice

Anything that’s “helpful” to solve a problem by definition IS a clue. There are plenty of information in the book i.e. the sample puzzle, immigration backdrop, travel map and stories. Of course they are all vague and generalizations and do not specifically help individual puzzles. However I’ve noticed some members, including myself dissect images in the stories (i.e. Columbus Elf) and draw clues from them. Is this a futile attempt since the publisher apparently stated that there’s no clue hidden there?

This is true – from the standpoint of that is what John Palencar said to that wiki user back in April. I spoke to that person right after he had that conversation with Palencar and he told me all the same things posted on the wiki. He’s not the type of person to fabricate a story that he called Palencar. Now whether Palencar’s statement is in fact accurate/true – of course I cannot attest to. But I do believe it is true – my opinion only.
I don’t know about shawnvw’s conversation with him, but according to Egbert’s debrief posting after meeting with Preiss:
“5. B.Preiss was a very good poker player, and was not giving out any hints about any of the other locations. However, he did confirm my theory that the countries of origin of the faeries do connect with the sites. He also said that the pages following the verses (which make up the bulk of the book) have NO connection with the puzzles, and contain no additional clues. “
So Preiss does not seem to rule out the opening narratives having no clues or connection to the puzzles.
I would not discourage you from looking at the opening narratives before the images. I do not believe them to be vague generalizations or devoid of puzzle-specific hints….
(Again my opinion only)

Thanks Kang. I’ve found some of the information pre images/verses useful. Since I don’t have a copy of the book, old or new version I have nothing to add on the rest of the book.
Do you have any opinion on the new images/text in the Japanese version of the book, specifically the Dean/Monroe picture?
BTW you have some of the best thought out posts on Wiki. I enjoyed reading them.

In reading this article
http://kspot.org/trove/news.clippings/plain.dealer.121982.pdf
Posted by forest-blight here (thank you)
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=7350&p=153437#p153429
Seems to shed more light on who wrote what in the book.
Preiss is named as co-author.
“The first third of the book is a straight telling of the saga of the Fair People…”
“…Preiss hired Sean Kelly and Ted Mann of the National Lampoon to write two-thirds of the book…”
“…the last two-thirds of the book is a field-spotter’s guide…”I felt”, says Preiss “that we had to tell the story straight at the beginning, but the book as a whole would be easier to swallow if it were funny.”
So if accurate, and Kelly and Mann were the main writers of the Field Guide (guided by Preiss) and as co-author it is reasonable to infer that Preiss write the opening narratives.

Sharing thoughts :
Looking more at the Litany of the Jewels, I am starting to believe that within each description of the jewel’s litany there is a hint to the treasure ground. The connection can be made with both casques that have been found (IMO). I know this is kind of an after the fact, of the two solved puzzles, but maybe this holds true to hints of places in other puzzles.
Chicago Litany : “Brilliant as eyes of Celtic folk, Cold morning green, their Emerald” The eyes in the image have a canning resemblance to Lincoln, bags under the eyes, even the statue has this representation, “Green” the color of money or by definition a color worn by merchants and bankers, (Grant being on a 50$ bill, money also Green)
Cleveland Litany:” The Nymphs of Hellas cherish sweet Aquamarine spring-water clear” Greek mythology, Nymphs were associated with pools fresh water,(clean) and fountains, also associated with nature and gardens, all can be found at the Cleveland site.
San Francisco Litany: “Pearl Chaste, perfect as the silver moon” Silver moon , Silver dollar, two types of silver dollars have a moon on them, the Bicentennial and Eisenhower silver dollar. I think the key is the Dollar, Washington is the most famous person on the dollar, (not on these coins), but represents a place in SF, Washington Square (park)
https://ibb.co/fSRd1sG
https://ibb.co/Rb3kx0r