What the card says
An editorial summary of the readable passages, rather than a complete translation of every sign. The sender remains unidentified; the nickname and similar language across cards do not establish a single writer.
The clearer passages thank the addressee for a note/card, promise to write soon, and ask when she will travel for the holidays and how long she will stay in Pelhřimov. The stated purpose is to know where to send a letter. The text does not identify which holidays are intended.
The phrase about the meaning of l?kov / ce has the possible botanical reading lýkovce, “daphne,” but that word remains a conjecture. It does not establish a flower’s symbolism or an exchange of a particular plant.
The lower region resembles an affectionate closing signed pepouš. It may continue the preceding reference to “your sweet” lips, but the spatial listing does not establish that reading order. The unresolved vin? admits first- or third-person interpretations.
The postcard’s printed caption is Máchův „Máj“ 2. Its verse reproduces the opening of Karel Hynek Mácha’s Máj, a love-themed Czech poem. The number 2 belongs to the postcard caption; the particular book edition used is unestablished. The reason for using a cipher remains unknown. This printed-context identification and date check were made separately after the cipher test; they are not additional cipher validation.
Saved literal readings
This is the saved decoding output. Question marks mark unresolved source units, which may be single letters, digraphs or uncertain groupings of strokes. Spelling defects, line breaks and source-region labels are preserved; proposed corrections are discussed separately.
First primary fixed-key literal
=== SOURCE REGION right_block ===
srde?n? d?k za mil? bo
pis a l?stek v?znam l?kov
ce nen? mi znam l??tek
v?ak jest od teb? a proto
jest mi drah?m budu ti
brzo ps?ti sd?l mi la
skav? kdy pojede? na
sv?tky a jak dlouho se
v pelh?imov? zdr???
bych v?d?l kam dopis
za?lati vduchut?
vin? k sob? a sladk? tv?
=== SOURCE REGION bottom_continuation ===
?sta tis?ckr?te v??le l?b? tvuj pepou?
First frozen secondary-V2 literal
=== SOURCE REGION right_block ===
srdečný dík za mil? bo
pis a lístek význam l?kov
ce nen? mi znam lí?tek
však jest od teb? a proto
jest mi drahým budu ti
brzo ps?ti sděl mi la
skavě kdy pojedeš na
sv?tky a jak dlouho se
v pelhřimově zdrž?š
bych věděl kam dopis
za?lati vduchutě
vin? k sob? a sladká tv?
=== SOURCE REGION bottom_continuation ===
?sta tis?ckráte v??le l?b? tvuj pepouš
What remains uncertain
- Joining bo and pis produces bopis. The proposed reading dopis, “letter,” changes an already resolved b to d; that repair is not made in either literal.
- The source region sequence is a spatial listing. The bottom line may contain separate continuations, so connecting it to the right block is conditional.
- A separate post-test image-only review read the bottom inscription as “4. IV. 1900.” No posting or receipt date is established.
Source and method
Fresh prospective test of the unchanged 24-entry key and frozen secondary V2 rules on a purposefully selected source.
Primary: 207/246 mapped. Frozen secondary V2: 228/246, adding 21 values; 18 remain unknown. Strict agreement is NON-ESTIMABLE.
HCPortal catalogue record for card 458 · Open the original photograph
4 April 1900 · inscribed date. The date label records its evidence source; it does not establish a posting or receipt date.
Two AI readers transcribed the source before the fixed lookup. Card 458 was deliberately selected for legible marked forms, rather than sampled at random. The primary key mapped 207 of 246 bodies; frozen secondary V2 rules added 21 values, mapping 228. A reviewer shown only the primary literal proposed alternatives compatible with all 21 added values. None of those 21 positions met the predeclared unique, high-confidence criterion, so the strict agreement rate is NON-ESTIMABLE. Compatibility is not 21/21 verified accuracy or a decisive pass.
A separate AI reviewer saw only the secondary literal and found connected Czech with explicit defects. Neither that review nor the comparison changed the first outputs or the rules.
The source transcriptions and language checks were AI-generated. No external human expert review is claimed. Coverage counts signs assigned a value, not verified correct letters; one sign can produce the two-letter Czech ch.
Evidence and context
- Original study: development and fixed-key testing
- First-edition partial key and staged mark rules
- Official HCPortal catalogue record: pc_hcp_458
- Official HCPortal picture-side source image
- First primary fixed-key literal — exact text download
- First frozen secondary-V2 literal — exact text download
- Czech Academy critical-edition commentary on Mácha’s Máj
Editorial revision, 5 October 2026: the explanation has been reorganized and repeated cautions shortened. Saved Czech outputs, numerical results and source links are unchanged. Photographs remain linked at their source.