Letterlocking

Letterlocking is the act of folding and securing a written message (such as a letter) on papyrus, parchment, or paper, without requiring it to be contained in an envelope or packet. It is a traditional method of document security that utilizes folding and cutting.^[1] The process dates to the 13th century in Western history, corresponding with the availability of flexible writing paper.^[2] Letterlocking uses small slits, tabs, and holes placed directly into a letter, which combined with folding techniques are used to secure the letter ("letterpacket"), preventing reading the letter without breaking seals or slips, providing a means of tamper resistance and tamper evidence.^[3] These folds and holes may be additionally secured with string and sealing wax.^[4]

A locked letter from 1603

A particularly intricate method known as a spiral lock was in use by people of many social backgrounds in early modern Europe, including monarchs Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I of England. The pages of a letter would be folded together to form a packet. A sliver cut from a page but remaining attached at one end would be woven multiple times, back and forth, through short slots cut into the folded pages. The paper would then be moistened so that it would swell, locking the pieces together. The loose end of the sliver would then be pasted down and possibly sealed with wax.^[5]

A Scottish diplomat in Italy, William Keith of Delny, sent letters to James VI of Scotland in 1595 which would tear in two if not opened with care.^[6] In 1603 King James told the Venetian diplomat Giovanni Carlo Scaramelli, with a smile, that he had previously received letters from the Doge of Venice which he could not open without breaking the seal. Scaramelli opened the letter for him.^[7]

Intricate letterlocking works contain artistic elements, demonstrating more than a utilitarian purpose.^[8] While the use of sealing techniques may have been limited to ecclesiastic and the nobility, letterlocking was historically performed by all classes of writers.^[9] An individual could also be recognised by their personal technique of folding, as was the case with Jane Whorwood, of whose letter Charles I of England wrote: "This Note [...] I know, by the fowldings [...] that it is written by [Mrs Whorwood]".^[10]

Letterlocking is also a discipline focusing on "the materially engineered security and privacy of letters, both as a technology and a historically evolving tradition."^[1]

Collections

The Brienne Collection is a postmaster's trunk of undelivered letters from various places in Europe sent to The Hague, the Netherlands, between 1689 and 1706.^[11] The letters were held by the postmaster because, at that time, the recipient was required to pay for delivery and the postmaster kept the letters in the hope that the intended recipient would pay for delivery at a later date. These letters were therefore letters for which the intended recipient never paid for delivery and so therefore never received the remaining letters. The trunk contains about 2,600 folded letters, of which about 600 have been unsealed and studied. The collection is held by the Dutch museum Image and Sound The Hague, which encompasses the former Dutch postal museum.^[12]

Research advancements

In March 2021 the journal Nature Communications^[13] reported that a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology used computational techniques to "virtually unfold" letters from the Brienne Collection, using technology similar to that used for investigating similarly delicate scrolls, books, and other folded documents.^[14] The digitally unfolded letter, sealed since 1697 and secured by eight folds, had been previously scanned using X-ray microtomography (XMT), a technology used in dental and other medical, industrial, and archeological research. While previous XMT efforts had involved algorithms to analyze and digitally flatten ancient scrolls, this research succeeded in interpreting complex, origami-like folds, and parts of letters slotted through and interlocked with other parts of the letters.^[14][15]

See also

• Letter sheet
• Letters close

References

1. "Letterlocking : Dictionary". Letterlocking. Retrieved 2021-03-15.
2. Cain, Abigail (2018-11-09). "Before Envelopes, People Protected Messages With Letterlocking". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
3. Denny, Heather (23 April 2014). "The art and science of letterlocking". MIT News.
4. Kahn, Eve (2015-09-17). "A Trove of 'Letterlocking,' or Vintage Strategies to Deter Snoops". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
5. Dambrogio, Jana; et al. (2021). "The Spiral-Locked Letters of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots". Electronic British Library Journal (11). doi:10.23636/qyhc-b427. ISSN 1478-0259.
6. Letters and State Papers during the reign of James the Sixth (Edinburgh, 1838), pp. 15-6.
7. Scaramelli, Giovanni Carlo (19 June 1603). "78". In Brown, Horatio (ed.). Calendar State Papers, Venice: 1603-1607 (Report). Vol. 10. London (published 1900). pp. 42–57. Seek "King took them smiling"
8. Smith, Helen (2017). "'A unique instance of art': The Proliferating Surfaces of Early Modern Paper". Journal of the Northern Renaissance (8): 2–37. ISSN 1759-3085. Accession 124313720.
9. Ahrendt, Rebekah; Van der Linden, David (2017). "The Postmasters' Piggy Bank: Experiencing the Accidental Archive". French Historical Studies. 40 (2): 189–213. doi:10.1215/00161071-3761583. hdl:1874/358478. ISSN 0016-1071.
10. Akkerman, Nadine (2018). Invisible Agents: Women and Espionage in Seventeenth-Century Britain. Oxford University Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780198823018. OCLC 1048595615.
11. "A Postal Treasure Trove". Signed, Sealed & Undelivered - the Brienne Collection. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
12. "Brienne: Treasure trove of Gossip, Scandal and Intrigue". Image and Sound the Hague. Retrieved 10 December 2021.
13. Dambrogio, Jana; Ghassaei, Amanda; Staraza Smith, Daniel; Jackson, Holly; Demaine, Martin L. (2021-03-02). "Unlocking history through automated virtual unfolding of sealed documents imaged by X-ray microtomography". Nature Communications. 12 (1): 1184. Bibcode:2021NatCo..12.1184D. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21326-w. PMC 7925573. PMID 33654094.
14. "Researchers virtually open and read sealed historic letters". MIT Libraries. 2021-03-02. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
15. Broad, William J. (2021-03-02). "New Technique Reveals Centuries of Secrets in Locked Letters". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-03-08.

External links

• Methods from the Envelope and Letter Folding Association."The history of Envelope and Letter Folds Association ELFA". Retrieved 2021-03-03. The Envelope and Letter Folds Association (ELFA) is an informal organization of enthusiasts founded in 1988-89 and which at one time had local groups in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.
• Finch, Erica (2021-02-11). "The Lost Art of Letterlocking: Tutorials, Personal Experience, and Application in Bookbinding". ibookbinding.com. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
• Gerard Hughes (30 August 2016). "Envelope and Letter Folding: Introduction – still not new or improved… Why the Heck Would You Want to Fold an Envelope?". Retrieved 2021-03-03.
• "Imaging Locked Letter Collections". Unlocking History Research Group, MIT. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
• "Letterlocking Dictionary". Unlocking History Research Group, MIT. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
• Letterlocking video channel on Youtube; demonstration of techniques including those found in the Brienne Collection postal archive. "Letterlocking videos". Youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
• "Before Envelopes, People Protected Messages With Letterlocking: For centuries, senders used folds, slits, and wax seals to guard correspondence from prying eyes.". Atlas Obscura. 2018-11-09. Retrieved 2021-03-03.
• "The clever folds that kept letters secret". BBC.