Unlocking History number (UH#)

UH0225



Original

Shakespeare props, Twelfth Night, Malvolio’s letter: “By your leave, wax” (2019)



Model and research notes

MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 18.



Letterlocking Unique Video number(s) (LUV #s) & Instructional video(s) URL

LUV225 https://youtu.be/oXxpmX7JdCM 



Instructional video info transcription

Forthcoming



Letterlocking Category number (LC #)

LC23H



Letterlocking Format number (LF #)

4RW



Security score

High



Assessment of Confidence in assigning LC#

Attested



Substrate

Paper



Dimensions

Opened (in mm):       H: 295mm x W: 208mm

Letterpacket (in mm): H:   78mm x W: 105mm



Manifestation

Opened



Distinctive letterlocking style(s)

Prop model

Triangle lock



Locking mechanism

Lock



Security enhancements

Matching lock with paper from which it was cut

Text across lock and address panel       



Letterlocking category formula (shorthand)

LC23 

Fold + Slit/Hole + Adhere + Lock-SU 

(F + S/H + A + LSU)



Letterlocking manipulation sequence (shorthand)

Fold + fold + fold + fold +fold + slit + lock-SU + adhere



Locking instructions

Forthcoming

Slice out triangle lock-SU. Set aside lock-SU. Fold short-edge to short-edge fold. Open. Fold short-edge closed gatefold. Fold short-edge to short-edge fold. Slit through all panels of the letterpacket. Lace tip of triangle lock-SU through slit. Shape lock tip. Apply adhesive. Wrap lock around accessible edges. Apply adhesive. Impress seal-stamp. Flip packet. Write address.



Images 

Forthcoming



Foldable(s)

Forthcoming



Step-by-steps 

Forthcoming



Substrate map

Forthcoming



Virtual unfolding results

NA



Manipulations

Forthcoming




Damage

NA



Features

NA 



Article(s)

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



2019. Daniel Starza Smith & Jana Dambrogio. “Unfolding Action: Locked Letters as Props in the Early Modern Theatre” essay in Early British Drama in Manuscript, ed. by Tamara Atkin & Laura Estill, British Manuscripts, 1 (Turnhout: Brepols). 229–245. 



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 resources

Research in Action: "By your leave, wax: Letterlocking on the Shakespearean Stage" 



Citation for the letter(s)

UH0225

Original and model: A trick letter found by Shakespeare’s Malvolio (2019), MIT, MC0760, Box 18.                    



Original and model

MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 18.



Video

LUV225

Jana Dambrogio, Daniel Starza Smith, and the Unlocking History Research Group, “Shakespeare props, Twelfth Night, Malvolio’s letter: ‘By your leave, wax’.” Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0225/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 0225. Filmed: July 30, 2021. Posted: 9 November 2021. Duration: 4:31. https://youtu.be/oXxpmX7JdCM. Accessed March 4, 2025.






Return to