Letterlocking Categories
Check back soon for the ability to filter the letterlocking categories for open letters. For now, this section is a work-in-progress. Scroll down and enjoy the videos and images.
This section is divided into three main sections: no adhesive, adhesive, and not letterlocking
(examples of information-locking, document-locking, and Venetian document filing and storage systems)
and levels of built-in security: no, low, medium, high
No adhesive (no sealing wax, wafer, tape)
No built-in security
Fold
Category variation: Fold (in a wrapper)
Category: Fold. Format: Rectangle-wide.
Category: Fold. Format: Decagon.
Category: Fold. Format: Nonagon.
Fold + tuck
Category: Fold +tuck. Format: Triangle.
Category: Fold + tuck. Format: Rectangle-tall Gallery.
Category: Fold + tuck. Format: Triangle.
Category: Fold + tuck. Format: Rectangle-wide.
Category: Fold + tuck. Format: Hexagon-wide.
Fold + lock-N
Lock-N = a material not cut from writing substrate
Category: Fold + lock-N (our only known historic example is in wrapper). Format: Rectangle.
Fold + tuck + lock-N
Examples forthcoming.
Fold + slit/hole + tuck
Category variation: Fold + slit/hole +tuck (into pre-cut slit). Format: Rectangle-wide.
Fold + slit/hole + lock-N
Lock-N = a material not cut from writing substrate
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-N
Queen Marie Antoinette, 1780.
Category variation: Fold + slit + removable lock-N. Format: Rectangle-wide. Nickname: Removable lock-N.
Category variation: Fold + slit + butterfly lock-N. Format: Rectangle-wide. Nickname: 8panel pleated butterfly lock-N
Essex's letters to Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Fold + tuck + slit/hole + lock-N
Examples forthcoming.
Adhesive (sealing wax, starch wafer, tape)
Low built-in security
Fold + adhere
Category: Fold + adhere. Format: rectangle-tall.
Category: Fold + adhere. Format: rectangle.
Category: Fold + adhere. Format: rectangle.
Fold + tuck + adhere
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere
Barton Rogers, 1826.
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere. Format: rectangle-wide.
Nickname: Tuck and seal with cross writing and doublings.
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere. Format: rectangle-wide.
Nickname: Tuck and seal with doublings.
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere. (exception: one Fold + seal in medley). Format: Rectangle-wide. Nickname: Open edge tuck and seal.
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere. Format: rectangle-wide. Nickname: Triangle inside (with unopened enclosure inside a letter wrapper ).
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere. Format: rectangle-wide. Nickname: Rectangle Inside.
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere. Format: square diamond. Nickname: Brienne Diamond.
Fold + slit/hole + tuck +adhere
Fold + cut/slit flap + adhere
Category: Fold + cut /slit flap + adhere. Format: rectangle-wide. Nickname: Cut envelope flap wrap.
Category: Fold + cut /slit flap + adhere. Format: rectangle-wide. Nickname: Cut triangle flap wrap
Fold + cut/slit flap + tuck + adhere
Letterlocking, document security, An example of letterlocking category 'fold + cut/slit flap + tuck + adhere' variation is bound into a "gathered and tied" binding with other letters that are not letterlocked; but rather have document security features built into them. Check out the corner folding traditions that continue into the 21st century. In the background are ca. 150 simulacra (detailed models of specific bindings and letters) found in the Vatican Secret Archives. They are modelled after the (record group) Fondo Veneto Sezione II, where letterlocking was discovered in 2000.
Fold + lock-N + adhere
Lock-N = a material not cut from writing substrate
Category: Fold + lock-N + adhere
Pleated letter secured with paper band and wax.
# panel pleated letter
# panel pleated locked with hair and silk
Fold + slit/hole + lock-N + adhere
Lock-N = a material not cut from writing substrate
Category: Fold + Slit /Hole + lock-N + adhesive
Fold + slit/hole + lock-N + adhere. Format: rectangle-wide. Nickname: The John Donne Lock.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-N + adhere. Format: rectangle-wide. Nickname: Two-piece lock with papered seal
Two-piece locked document (stabs through some, not all of the panels)
Sealing wax over slits on both outer panels, 1514.
Paston, the first Valentine
Paston sewn with papered seal
Paston 1455
Paston 4 October 1444
Fold + tuck + slit/hole + lock-N + adhere
Lock-N = a material not cut from writing substrate
Category: Fold + tuck+ slit/hole + lock-N + Adhere
Adhesive (sealing wax, starch wafer, tape)
High built-in security
Lock–YU
Lock-YU or Lock-YA =must be cut off from or slit out of the actual epistolary writing substrate (e.g., paper) and used to secure it shut)
Cut/slit lock + fold + slit/hole + lock–YU +adhere
Tomaso di Levrieri's use of three letterlocking formats including the triangle lock with slit parallel to fore-edge (with and without the lock cut from the actual substrate it is locking shut and tuck and seal)
Sword lock–YU slit perpendicular to fore-edge.
Triangle lock–YU slit perpendicular to fore-edge.
Triangle lock–YU slit parallel to the fore-edge.
Cut/slit lock + fold + tuck + slit/hole + lock–YU+ adhere
Erasmus.
No adhesive
High built-in security
Lock–YA
Lock-YA is slit out of the actual epistolary writing substrate (e.g., paper), and remains attached while it secures the packet shut
Fold + cut/slit lock + fold + slit/hole + lock–YA
Blank Margin sealed with no adhesive (used by Queen Elizabeth I of England, Mary Queen of Scots, Catherine DeMedici, and many others.
Adhesive
High built-in security
Lock–YA
Fold + cut/slit lock + fold + slit/hole+ lock–YA adhere
Scaliger
Fold + cut/slit lock + fold + slit/hole + lock–YA + adhere + loop slits + slit + hole + lock–N + adhere
Nickname: 12-panel pleated dagger-trap. Format: rectangle-wide.
Fox
Not Letterlocking Gallery
Varying degrees of built-in security
Document Security: Queen Elizabeth I of England's instructions for the arrest of Mary Queen of Scots, 1584.
Mesopotamian Clay Bullae, 10,000 B.C.E. (assumed construction)
Format: Document Security. Closed format: Sphere.
cross-hatching in the margins
Document Security: folded contract or document in a textile bag
Fold + Textile envelope. Format: Document security. Closed format: Rectangle.
Two-part locked document later sewn into a fascicle
Letterlocking, document security, An example of letterlocking category 'fold + cut/slit flap + tuck + adhere' variation is bound into a "gathered and tied" binding with other letters that are not letterlocked, but rather have document security features built into them. Check out the corner folding traditions that continue into the 21st century. In the background are ca. 150 simulacra (detailed models of specific bindings and letters) found in the Vatican Secret Archives. They are modelled after the (record group) Fondo Veneto Sezione II, where letterlocking was discovered in 2000.
Filza-simple
Filza