Unlocking History number (UH#)
UH0035
Original, model, and research notes
Container egg for secret messages (1579), MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 19.
Letterlocking Unique Video number(s) (LUV #s)
LUV035 https://youtu.be/u5AOqOxFDiA
Instructional video info transcription
Forthcoming
Letterlocking Category number (LC #)
Document Security
Letterlocking Format number (LF #)
2SP
Security score
Zero
Assessment of Confidence in assigning LC#
Attested
Substrate
Egg and Paper
Dimensions
Varies, Raw egg + small fragment of folded paper
Manifestation
Opened
Distinctive letterlocking style(s)
Container egg
Locking mechanism
Container egg, Document security
Security enhancements
Steganography
Information security
Letterlocking category formula (shorthand)
2SP
Letterlocking manipulation sequence (shorthand)
Letter: (fold)
Egg: (slit)
Locking instructions
Slit egg
Insert folded letter into slit
Images
Forthcoming
Foldable(s)
Forthcoming
Step-by-steps
Forthcoming
Substrate map
Forthcoming
Virtual unfolding results
NA
Manipulations
Forthcoming
Damage
NA
Features
NA
Article(s)
NA
Book
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.
Further reading
Giambattista della Porta's "Magiae Naturalis" (1558; 1644 ed. Book 16–Chapter IV) and Thomas Lupton’s “A Thousand Notable Things” (1579) gives a step-by-step description of how to secretly hide letters in eggs. View Porta's 1644 Latin edition of "Magia Naturalis" in MIT Libraries Institute Archives, Vail Collection, call number: Q155.P78 1644.
Nadine Akkerman and Pete Langman. Spycraft: tricks and tools of the dangerous trade from Elizabeth I to the restoration. 2024. New Haven: Yale University Press, p. 228.
Citation for the letter(s)
UH0035
Original and model
Container egg for secret messages (1579). MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 19.
Video
LUV035
Jana Dambrogio, Nadine Akkerman, Ayako Letizia, and the Unlocking History Research Group, “Container egg for secret messages (1579).” Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0035/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 035. Filmed: May 2015. Duration: 6:10. Posted: September 2015. URL: https://youtu.be/u5AOqOxFDiA. Accessed March 4, 2025.