Unlocking History number (UH#)
UH0145
Original
John de Vere’s rolled or folded letter to John Paston II
Model and research notes
MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 28.
Letterlocking Unique Video number(s) (LUV #s) & Instructional video(s) URL
LUV https://youtu.be/EwUyTxcuqjY
Instructional video info transcription
Forthcoming
Letterlocking Category number (LC #)
LC05L
Letterlocking Format number (LF #)
Scroll: 2SC or
Fold: 4RXW
Security score
Low
Assessment of Confidence in assigning LC#
Uncertain, rolled or folded
Substrate
Paper
Dimensions
Opened (in mm): H: 300 x W: 90mm
Letterpacket (in mm): H: 90 x W: 15 x D: 15mm
Manifestation
Opened
Distinctive letterlocking style(s)
Scroll or fold
Locking mechanism
Lock
Security enhancements
Forthcoming
Letterlocking category formula (shorthand)
LC13
Roll or Fold + Adhere + Lock-O
(F + A + LO)
Letterlocking manipulation sequence (shorthand)
Locking instructions
Images
Forthcoming
Foldable(s)
Forthcoming
Step-by-steps
Forthcoming
Substrate map
Forthcoming
Virtual unfolding results
NA
Manipulations
Writing: Margin folds
Postal: NA
Opening: Tears
Filing (Storage, Display): Adhered into a letterbook
Repair: Mends
Damage
Forthcoming
Features
Forthcoming
Article(s)
2023. Daniel Starza Smith & Jana Dambrogio. Letterlocking: securing correspondence before envelopes in Routledge Encyclopedia of the Renaissance World. Lauren Shohet, subject editor.
2021. The Spiral-Locked Letters of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots
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.
Citation for the letter(s)
UH0145
Original
John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, Lord High Admiral, to John Paston II (July 18, 1469). British Library, Add. MS 43489, fol. 33. Davis number 762.
Model
MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 28.
Video
LUV145
Jana Dambrogio and the Unlocking History Research Group, “John de Vere’s rolled or folded letter to John Paston II, England (1469).” Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0145/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 0145. Filmed: November 2017. Duration: 2:48. Posted: November 2017. URL: https://youtu.be/EwUyTxcuqjY. Accessed March 4, 2025.