In The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) Robert Burton, suggesting various diversions for the melancholy, writes,

Quote:
By this art you may contemplate the variation of the twenty-three letters, which may be so infinitely varied, that the words complicated and deduced thence will not be contained within the compass of the firmament; ten words may be varied 40,320 several ways...


Emphasis added. The words in italics are also the epigraph to The Library of Babel by Jorge Luis Borges.

But why 23? Burton was English. Is it possible he made a mistake?

In some old texts v is u and y is i, but that's just a stab in the dark. Burton uses 26 letters in his book.

Last edited by Hydra; 12/06/2007 4:59 AM.