Unlocking History number (UH#)

UH0157



Original

Poggio Bracciolini’s two-piece locked letter, Italy (1455)



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

LUV0157 https://youtu.be/T9ueUNUAsOA



Instructional video info transcription

Forthcoming



Letterlocking Category number (LC #)

LC15L



Letterlocking Format number (LF #)

4RW 



Security score

Low



Assessment of Confidence in assigning LC#

Inferred



Substrate

Paper



Dimensions

Forthcoming



Manifestation

Opened



Distinctive letterlocking style(s)

Two-piece lock



Locking mechanism

Lock



Security enhancements

Forthcoming



Letterlocking category formula (shorthand)

LC15 

Fold + Slit/Hole + Adhere + Lock-O 

(F + S/H + A + LO)



Letterlocking manipulation sequence (shorthand)

Forthcoming



Locking instructions

Forthcoming



Images 

Forthcoming



Foldable(s)

Forthcoming



Step-by-steps 

Forthcoming



Substrate map

Forthcoming



Virtual unfolding results

NA



Manipulations

Forthcoming



Damage

Tears

Ink Corrosion

Trimmed



Features

Dirt on panels/ in crease



Article(s)

2023. Daniel Starza Smith & Jana Dambrogio. Letterlocking: securing correspondence before envelopes in Routledge Encyclopedia of the Renaissance World. Lauren Shohet, subject editor. 



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)

UH0157

Original 

Poggio Bracciolini’s two-piece locked letter, Italy (1455), British Library, Add. MS 21520, fol. 1.



Model

MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 28.



Video

Jana Dambrogio, Daniel Starza Smith, and the Unlocking History research group. "Poggio Bracciolini’s two-piece locked letter, Italy (1455),” Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0157/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 0157. Filmed: November 2017. Duration: 3:21. Posted: January 5, 2018. URL: https://youtu.be/T9ueUNUAsOA. Accessed March 4, 2025.        






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