TheCodeBreakers
down to write what was to be the most famous book on cryptology ever
published. He described the composition of it in a letter to Manly in the
spring of 1931:
I hadn't done any real work for so long that I told Bye, my
agent, and the Sat Eve Post that I would need some one else to
write the stuff. I showed a few things to Bye and Costain, the latter
editor of POST, and both told me to go to work myself. I sat for days
before a typewriter, helpless. Oh, I pecked away a bit, and
gradually under the encouragement of Bye I got a bit of confidence.
Then Bobbs Merrill advanced me $1000 on outline. Then there was
a call to rush the book. I began to work in shifts, working a few
hours, sleeping a few hours, going out of my room only to buy
some eggs, bread, coffee and cans of tomatoe juice. Jesus, the stuff
I turned out. Sometimes only a thousand words, but often as many
as 10,000 a day
annaabi.ee 
