Unlocking History Concept uri

https://letterlocking.org/doll/concept/309

Preferred label

lock (features)

Alternative label

band; girolo (Italian); L; letterlock; making up; nema (Spanish); nizza (Italian); ties; tongue; the use of locks

Scope note

A material appendage to the main writing substrate, used to fasten or secure a letterpacket shut. As part of the locking mechanism, locks often (though not always) work in combination with slits/holes and/or adhesive. One of the principal manipulations of letterlocking. locks are subdivided into three kinds: lock–Other, lock-Same substrate, Attached, and lock–Same substrate, Unattached.

Top concept

features

https://letterlocking.org/doll/concept/605

Broader/Parent concept

letterlocking manipulation

https://letterlocking.org/doll/concept/298

Related concept

locking mechanism

https://letterlocking.org/doll/concept/319

The Arts & Architecture ThesaurusⓇ Online, The Getty Research Institute Concept uri

Not in AAT

The Language of Bindings Thesaurus (LoB) Concept uri

Not in LoB

Scope note source reference

For girolo (Italian) see Sansovino, Francesco. Del secretario di m. Francesco Sansovino - Ne quali con bell'ordine s’insegna altrui à scriuer lettere messiue & responsiue in tutti i generi, come nella tauola contrascritta si comprende. Con gli essempi delle lettere formate & poste à lor luoghi in diuerse materie con le parti segnate. Et con uarie lettere di principi à piu persone, scritte da diuersi secretarij in piu occasioni e in diuersi tempi. Venice: Francesco Rampazzetto, 1565, pages 24–25.

For nema (Spanish) see Francionsino, Lorenzo. Vocabvlario español e italiano: en esta vltima impression corregido y añadido por su verdader auctor. Venice: Barezzi, 1645, pag 1012.

For nizza (Italian) see Sansovino, Francesco. Del secretario di m. Francesco Sansovino - Ne quali con bell'ordine s’insegna altrui à scriuer lettere messiue & responsiue in tutti i generi, come nella tauola contrascritta si comprende. Con gli essempi delle lettere formate & poste à lor luoghi in diuerse materie con le parti segnate. Et con uarie lettere di principi à piu persone, scritte da diuersi secretarij in piu occasioni e in diuersi tempi. Venice: Francesco Rampazzetto, 1565, pages 24–25.

For Schnitz (German), see Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, volume. 15, pages 1358-1360 (Schnitz bis Schnitzeisen) and in the German Dictionary, volume. 2, 1, “Schnitt, Schnitz“, page 621.

For tiret (French), see Chappuys, Gabriel. Le secrettaire. (1588) Textes littéraires français, edited by Viviane Mellinghoff-Bourgerie, 628. Geneva: Librairie Droz, 2014.

Source

Jana Dambrogio and Daniel Starza Smith with the Unlocking History Research Group. Letterlocking: The Hidden History of the Letter. Cambridge and London: MIT Press, 2025.