The Secret – by Byron Preiss (Bantam paperback, 1982)

Background on the book from http://thesecret.pbworks.com/w/page/22148559/FrontPage... “Many armchair treasure hunt books have been published over the years, most notably Masquerade (1979) by British artist Kit Williams. Masquerade promised a jewel-encrusted golden hare to the first person to unravel the riddle that Williams cleverly hid in his art. In 1982, while everyone in Britain was still madly digging up hedgerows and pastures in search of the golden hare, The Secret: A Treasure Hunt was published in America. The previous year, author and publisher Byron Preiss had traveled to 12 locations in the continental U.S. (and possibly Canada) to secretly bury a dozen ceramic casques. Each casque contained a small key that could be redeemed for one of 12 jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York. The key to finding the casques was to match one of 12 paintings to one of 12 poetic verses, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the 12 casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1984 by a group of students. The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005, but the hunt for his casques continues. The Secret is long out of print, but copies can be obtained easily online (try abebooks.com or bookfinder.com; the book was jointly authored by Sean Kelly, John Pierard, Byron Preiss, Ben Asen, John Jude Palencar, Ted Mann, JoEllen Trilling, and Overton Loyd). Most of the book has no connection whatsoever to the treasure hunt. Of primary importance are the 12 paintings and the 12 verses, as well as some front-end material that provides a back story.”

Twelve boxes (or “casques” as they were called) were buried, but only two have been found. The first one was discovered by a group of students in 1984, in Grant Park in Chicago. This is how it worked.

Where M and B are set in stone And to Congress, R is known L sits and left Beyond his shoulder Is the Fair Folks' Treasure holder The end of ten by thirteen Is your clue Fence and fixture Central too For finding jewel casque Seek the sounds Of rumble Brush and music Hush.

The verse describes various landmarks in the area of Grant Park. Where M and B are set in stone 1 - The names of Mozart and Beethoven appear on the front of Symphony Hall. And to Congress, R is known 2 - Roosevelt University on Congress Parkway L sits and left 3 - Statue of Lincoln Beyond his shoulder 4 Shows the position of the casque “The end of ten by thirteen” referred to two lines of trees. “Fence and fixture” referred to this fencepost and wall fixture. The casque was apparently found between them. (That tree wasn’t there at the time.)

Several landmarks around Grant Park appeared disguised within the image, including the statue “Spirit of the Great Lakes”… “The Bowman”… The fencepost…

This is the picture and verse which are thought to relate to San Fransisco:

Of all the romance retold Men of tales and tunes Cruel and bold Seen here By eyes of old Stand and listen to the birds Hear the cool, clear song of water Harken to the words: Freedom at the birth of a century Or May 1913 Edwin and Edwina named after him Or on the eighth a scene Where law defended Between two arms extended Below the bar that binds Beside the long palm's shadow Embedded in the sand Waits the Fair remuneration White house close at hand.

Most of the images include a hidden latitude and longitude for the city. Reading down the column of figures on the right of the dress, we see: I II II The finger divides the boxes below into: 3 7 …giving 122 and 37, the coordinates for San Fransisco. (These numbers appear elsewhere in the image; eg there’s a 37 in her hair. The book also contains other subtle clues for SF.) Of all the romance retold Men of tales and tunes Cruel and bold Seen here By eyes of old This is a paraphrase of the introduction to Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson…

If sailor tales to sailor tunes, Storm and adventure, heat and cold, If schooners, islands, and maroons, And buccaneers, and buried gold, And all the old romance, retold Exactly in the ancient way, Can please, as me they pleased of old

This suggests the Robert Louis Stevenson memorial fountain in Portsmouth Square, Chinatown. (There are plenty of chinese figures and dragons in this district.)

Stand and listen to the birds Hear the cool, clear song of water This could be a description of the spot by the fountain. Harken to the words: Freedom at the birth of a century Or May 1913 These lines recall Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation; its legislation to free slaves at the beginning of a century, and its 50th anniversary celebration in 1913. Cassius Clay helped Lincoln draft the legislation… http://www.muhammad-ali-boxing.org.uk/cassius-marcellus-clay-2.htm …and the reference may be a clue for Clay St, which leads west from the square. (That’s a pretty tricky clue, but then again, people have been trying to crack this riddle for 30 years without success…!) Edwin and Edwina named after him The actor Edwin Booth, whose daughter Edwina was named after him, is commemorated on a nearby plaque in Bush St., close to a plaque commemorating Robert Louis Stevenson. (The actor’s union “Equity” was formed in May 1913 at Edwin Booth’s New York mansion; another possible tie-in.) Or on the eighth a scene Where law defended If you follow Clay along a few blocks, you come to Lafayette Tennis court (“a scene where law defended”) on Octavia (which means eighth). Between two arms extended Below the bar that binds Not sure what this means Beside the long palm's shadow This could be an actual palm tree, or a reference to “longue paume” (long palm), an ancestor of tennis; ie, another clue for the tennis courts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longue_paume

Embedded in the sand Waits the Fair remuneration The casque (the fair folk’s treasure, described in the book’s introduction) buried in the ground. (Incidentally the phrase “fair remuneration” also occurs in the Equity handbook.) White house close at hand. Could be 1925 Gough St., the large white house near the tennis court. Could the casque be somewhere near here…?

The park’s Victorian drinking fountain has some similarities to the table shown in the image. I’m not sure whereabouts in the park it is though.

This is what was hidden, buried up to 3ft deep in a plastic container. There’s an article about the Cleveland discovery here: http://www.angelfire.com/dragon/egbert/secret.html Although there’s no prize anymore, anyone finding one of these would have the box as a souvenir, and they’d be regarded as a hero by the people at the “Quest4Treasure” website…;-) Here’s an article about the Grant Park discovery, though it’s not entirely accurate…