In my book, The Map and the Manuscript (2022), I revealed the existence of a concealed grid, laid out in inches, hidden in the famous map included by the priest Henri Boudet in his 1886 book La Vraie Langue Celtique.

Further I showed there that this grid corresponds to features inherent in the landscape itself, and represents the transmission of a genuine ancient knowledge into modern times.

I based this interpretation on a facsimile of the map reproduced (in black and white) in an edition of Boudet's book published in 1978 by the Paris publishing house of Belfond.

This reprint is identical in size to another facsimile of the map, this time in colour, which was published in another edition, in 1984, by a different publisher, Bélisane.

The observation that the two facsimile maps are identical in size suggests that they both faithfully replicate the size of the 1886 original.

But do they? In a previous blog post, this was confirmed by a photo of a library copy of the original with a ruler within the frame for comparison. Admittedly though, the image was not of pristine clarity, nor was it reliably sourced. So.

Be that as it may, recently, dipping into some books in my library, I was pleasantly surprised to come across a quotation which resolves the issue decisively. It occurs in an Introduction, written by Philippe Schrauben, included in the 1984 Bélisane edition of Boudet's La Vraie Langue Celtique. This is the edition referred to above which contains the full-colour facsimile reprint of the Boudet map. Here is a photo of the cover:

If I have read this quotation before, well, it must have been many years ago and slipped my mind. This is a pity, as it would have been very helpful to have cited it in The Map and the Manuscript, because it closes this gap in my argument, as I will soon show below. On the other side of the ledger, however, it also made me realise that I had made a small bibliographic error in my book. Quelle horreur!

In short, the error was that I conflated two sources into one. Frankly, this does not affect any of my conclusions, but it does, when corrected, potentially shed some insight on the situation. More on that below, but first, the quotation. Here it is, an excerpt from the Introduction by Philippe Schrauben, from the 1984 Bélisane edition reprint of Boudet's 1886 book La Vraie Langue Celtique. (First in the original French, then in English translation.)

Now in translation:

In light of the information in this quotation, we can now be certain that the 1984 Belisane edition map is identical in size to the 1886 original, because this was the entire purpose of the reprint.

This is why the front cover of this 1984 edition includes the words

Édition conforme à l'original de 1886

That is to say: Edition conforming to the original of 1886

It is specifically intended to be a faithful reproduction of the original, and this applies especially to the size of the map. So we can be certain that this map is identical in size to the original.

As previously noted, the 1978 Belfond edition map is identical in size to the 1984 Belisane edition map. It does differ, however, in two respects from the original: first, it is in black and white, rather than colour. And second it includes a border.

Now, in light of Philippe Schrauben's introduction, and the revelations in The Map and the Manuscript of the presence of a concealed grid based on inches in the Boudet map, we can trace a cohesive story through this convoluted textual and cartographic path.

As shown in the summary above, the first two editions of Boudet's book, published in March and June of 1978 respectively, were published with the map reproduced at reduced size. As Schrauben so rightly observed: for both maps their "reduced size, made any study impossible".

Exactly. Because the size is the whole point.

Nevertheless it is apparent that Gérard de Sède, who wrote the Introduction in the June 1978 edition, published by La Demeure Philosophale, knew the secret of the concealed inch-grid, as it is here that some of the most direct and helpful clues to its presence can be found. Unfortunately, the publishers reproduced the map at reduced scale, so his clues as to the "key", which turns out to be the inch measure, were of no assistance without the original map.

So two reprints had appeared in the first half of 1978, both with maps reduced in size.

Then the third edition of the year appears, from Belfond, again accompanied by the map. Here is the front cover of that book.

Notice however that Schrauber does not level the criticism this time that it is reduced in size, as he did for the two previous editions. He does not need to, as it is identical in size to the 1984 Bélisane, which we now know was intended as a faithful reproduction conforming to the original. I discuss this Belfond edition with the Introduction by Pierre Plantard at length in The Map and the Manuscript.

The map then, was reproduced in black and white, at correct original size, but with the addition of a completely new element: a thin black border running around the edge of the map on all four sides. The border does not draw attention to itself. To the casual glance, it appears as mere decoration. But it is much more than a random graphic insertion. The left hand side of the border aligns impeccably with the concealed inch grid.

There can be no doubt at all that Plantard is signalling the presence of the hidden grid in this manner.

It would seem that he thought that the concealed grid has been too well hidden in Boudet's map, and he could not help himself adding a small clue to act as confirmation.

It simply required one side to conform perfectly. He chose the most prominent, the left hand vertical edge, and positioned it so as to align with the inch grid. It was not necessary to align all four sides to the grid. One was sufficient. Any more would be redundant. His aim, I suppose, was to provide a very clear confirmation signal when, one day, someone should find the concealed grid.

And that's exactly what happened. I found, or stumbled upon the key, which was the inch concealed in the ornate title Rennes Celtique, and the grid generated from it.

The presence of the grid was abundantly confirmed by the spacing of various names and words on the map, and its legend.

But, admittedly, it is a subtle thing, and one would certainly appreciate a slightly more satisfying, even ringing endorsement from the puzzlemaker that this is indeed the intended solution.

That's the purpose of the left hand edge of the border of Plantard's 1978 edition of the map.

And realising that this aligned to the grid I had found was the moment I was certain this was indeed the intended hidden layer of Boudet's map.

So there is no doubt. The 1978 Belfond map, with the border, is identical in size to the 1886 original.

The grid and the inch measure are confirmed as being present in Boudet's original map of 1886

End of story.

Except for correcting my error.

My mistake consisted of inadvertently conflating two of the reprint editions above into a single book in my mind.

To unravel this with as little confusion as possible, I first list the two editions correctly

The first is the 1978 La Demeure Philosophale edition. It includes the foreword by Gérard de Sède, and a reduced size map.

The second is the 1984 Bélisane edition. It includes the introduction by Philippe Schrauben, and the colour version of the map at correct size.

Somehow I was confused, and supposed that there was a Bélisane edition published in 1978 with both the Gérard de Sède introduction and the coloured map. I was wrong.

I can see in retrospect how I arrived at this regrettable error. In 2006 Bélisane published an English language translation of Boudet's book. It's essentially a recreation of their 1984 facsimile edition, except in English. It includes the coloured map, again in accurate facsimile and the same size as the original. It also includes, as a bonus, an English translation of the Gérard de Sède introduction from the 1978 La Demeure Philosophale edition. That's where my misunderstanding can be traced to! In any case, it's good to be able to straighten it out.

To summarise.

There can now be no doubt.

The secret of Boudet's map is the concealed inch-grid, and its relationship to the landscape.

This is the hidden truth at the core of the Affair of Rennes.

Now it's been found. And confirmed.

And that, indeed, is the end of the story.

The Map and the Manuscript: Journeys in the Mysteries of the Two Rennes

Available in Kindle, paperback, hardback and now ePub.

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