Prioritising Truth Over Opinion Emphasising Evidence-Based Conclusions...
Dimensions: Height 18 cms Width 13 cms
This is a copy of a Collins version of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. The precise date of its publication is not known but is believed to be between the late 1930s to the mid-1940s/
It is a copy of this book that has now been identified as the one from which the torn slip of paper with the words Tamam Shud printed on it was torn.
By default, that means that the Code letters were inscribed on a page of this book which left behind the indentations that became known as the Somerton Man code page.
By default, that means that the Code letters were inscribed on a page of this book which left behind the indentations that became known as the Somerton Man code page.
To substantiate this statement I set about the task of comparing the Whitcomb & Tombs version and its dimensions with the dimensions of the Somerton Man code page and then carried out the same exercise using the dimensions of the pages in the Collins version shown above.
The dimensions used are as follows:
Somerton Man Code Page
Width= 4.50 inches or 114.3 mm Height = 3.6 inches or 91.44 mm
A version of the code page photograph has been found in the Littlemore notes
that shows that in its original form it had the following dimensions:
Width = 117 mm or 4.61 inches Height = 92.5 mm or 3.64 inches
Whitcomb & Tombs Rubaiyat
Outer Dustcover: Full width = 225 mm or 8.9 inches Height = 5.7 inches or 145 mm
Inner pages: Height = 133 mm or 5.2 inches Width = 104 mm or 4.1 inches
Inner pages: Height = 133 mm or 5.2 inches Width = 104 mm or 4.1 inches
Collins Rubaiyat
Page width = 118 mm or 4.65 inches Page Height = 166 mm or 6.54 inches
Outer book cover Height = 180 mm 0r 7.01 inches Outer Book Width = 130 mm or 5.12 inches
COMPARISONS
For the purpose of this post, I will place the code page images on to the various pages to demonstrate the comparisons.
Collins Rubaiyat:
This image shows an inner leaf page with the Somerton Man coe page overlaid. As you can see it is an almost exact fit, the dimensions + or - 2 mm and are as follows:
Code page: 117 mm X 92.5 mm
Code page: 117 mm X 92.5 mm
Book page: 118 mm X 166 mm
First here;s a back leaf of the Collins book, there are in fact two such pages thus the question of how the indentations were picked up is straightforward. Later there is an image of part of a Police report that states that the 'back leaf' was missing.
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First here;s a back leaf of the Collins book, there are in fact two such pages thus the question of how the indentations were picked up is straightforward. Later there is an image of part of a Police report that states that the 'back leaf' was missing.
The next page in the Collins book is another blank page so the indentations would appear much as the writing shown in this image/
There are several placement options for the W&T book format as below.
First the book dust cover in normal view:
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First the book dust cover in normal view:
In this next image, we can see how and if the code page was written on the outer of the dust cover, and how it would appear and as you will immediately see, the code page does not fit onto the back of the dust cover of the Whitcomb and Tombs Rubaiyat.
The next image shows a second optional orientation and once again, the code page does not fit onto the dustcover:
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While this result appears to be conclusive, we must consider one more possible explanation and that relates to the physical size of the photograph versus the actual size of the code page.
Given what this exercise has shown thus far and the care taken that we have measurements within plus or minus 2 mm it is unlikely that the code page would have been written on the dust cover. The actual book within the dust cover being smaller than that cover also means that again the code page will not fit.
Given what this exercise has shown thus far and the care taken that we have measurements within plus or minus 2 mm it is unlikely that the code page would have been written on the dust cover. The actual book within the dust cover being smaller than that cover also means that again the code page will not fit.
Please make use of the dimensions for your own testing purposes to satisfy yourselves that the outcome is correct.