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: 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.
Fold + lock-O
Lock-O = a material not cut from writing substrate.
Category: Fold + lock-O (our only known historic example is in wrapper). Format: Rectangle.
Fold + tuck + lock-O
Examples forthcoming.
Fold + slit/hole + tuck
Category: Fold + slit/hole + tuck. Format: Rectangle wide.
Fold + slit/hole + lock-O
Lock-O = a material not cut from writing substrate
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-O.
Queen Marie Antoinette, 1780.
Category: Fold + slit + lock-O. Format: Rectangle wide.
Category : Fold + slit + lock-O. Format: Rectangle wide.
The Earl of Essex's letters to Elizabeth I.
Fold + tuck + slit/hole + lock-O
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.
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere. Format: rectangle wide.
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere. Format: Rectangle wide.
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere. Format: rectangle wide.
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere. Format: rectangle wide.
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere. Format: square diamond.
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere.
Category: Fold + tuck + adhere.
Fold + slit/hole + tuck + adhere
Fold + lock-SA + adhere
Category: Fold + lock-SA + adhere. Format: rectangle wide.
Category: Fold + lock-SA + adhere. Format: rectangle wide.
Fold + cut/slit flap + tuck + adhere
An example of letterlocking category 'fold + lock-SA + tuck + adhere' bound into a "gathered and tied" binding with other letters that are not letterlocked. In the background are c.150 simulacra (detailed models of specific bindings and letters) found in the Vatican Secret Archives, modelled after the record group Fondo Veneto Sezione II.
Category: Fold + tuck + lock-SA + adhere. Format: rectangle wide.
Fold + lock-O + adhere
Lock-O = a material not cut from the writing substrate.
Category: Fold + lock-O + adhere.
Category: Fold + lock-O + adhere.
Category: Fold + lock-O + adhere.
Category: Fold + lock-O + adhere.
Category: Fold + lock-O + adhere.
Category: Fold + lock-O + adhere.
Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + adhere
Lock-O = a material not cut from the writing substrate.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + adhesive.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + adhesive. Format: rectangle wide.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + adhesive. Format: rectangle-wide.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + adhesive.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + adhesive.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + adhesive.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + adhesive.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + adhesive.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + adhesive.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + adhesive.
Fold + tuck + slit/hole + lock-O + adhere
Lock-O = a material not cut from the writing substrate
Category: Fold + tuck+ slit/hole + lock-O + adhere.
Adhesive (sealing wax, starch wafer, tape)
High built-in security
Lock-SU
A lock-SU or lock-SA is cut off from or slit out of the actual epistolary writing substrate and used to secure it shut.
Fold + slit/hole + lock-SU + adhere
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-SU + adhere.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-SU + adhere.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-SU + adhere.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-SU + adhere.
Fold + tuck + slit/hole + lock-SU + adhere
Category: Fold + tuck + slit/hole + lock-SU + adhere.
No adhesive
High built-in security
Lock-SA
A lock-SA is slit out of the epistolary writing substrate and remains attached while it secures the packet shut.
Fold + slit/hole + lock-SA
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-SA.
Adhesive
High built-in security
Lock-SA
Fold + slit/hole + lock-SA + adhere
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-SA + adhere.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-SA + adhere.
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-SA + adhere.
Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + lock-SA + adhere
Category: Fold + slit/hole + lock-O + lock-SA + adhere.
Document Security Gallery (not letters)
Varying degrees of built-in security found in documents
Document Security: Elizabeth I's instructions for the arrest of Mary Queen of Scots, 1584.
Mesopotamian Clay Bullae, 10,000 B.C.E. (inferred construction).
Document Security. Closed format: Sphere.
Document Security: Cross-hatching in the margins.
Document Security: folded contract or document in a textile bag
Document Security: Fold + textile envelope. Closed format: Rectangle.
Document Security: 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.
Document Security: Filza (simple).
Document Security: Filza.