Unlocking History number (UH#)
UH0060
Original
Elizabeth I’s concealed two-piece locked letter to Sir Ralph Sadler (10 April, 1585), the British Library, Add MS 89293, ff. 82r-83v.
Model and research notes
MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Boxes 2, 16.
Letterlocking Unique Video number(s) (LUV #s) & Instructional video(s) URL
Forthcoming
Instructional video info transcription
Forthcoming
Letterlocking Category number (LC #)
LC15L or LC16L
Letterlocking Format number (LF #)
4RW
Security score
Low
Assessment of confidence in assigning LC#
Inferred
Substrate
Paper
Dimensions
Opened (in mm)
H: 230mm x W: 335mm
Letterpacket (in mm)
H: 92mm x W: 135mm
Manifestation
Opened
Distinctive letterlocking style(s)
Two-piece lock-O
Locking mechanism
Lock
Or
Lock + possible Tuck
Security enhancements
Under/over exposed seal
Authenticated covered seal
Authentication
Booby trap lock-O
Fake security
Two piece lock-O
Letterlocking category formula (shorthand)
LC15
Fold + Slit/Hole + Adhere + Lock-O
(F + S/H + A + LO)
Or
LC16
Fold + Tuck + Slit/Hole + Adhere + Lock-O
(F + T + S/H + A + LO)
Letterlocking manipulation sequence (shorthand)
Fold + fold + fold + fold + fold + fold + tuck + slit/hole + lock-O + adhere + lock-O
Locking instructions
Forthcoming
Writing manipulations
Flip packet.
Write address.
Images
Forthcoming
Foldable(s)
Forthcoming
Step-by-steps
Forthcoming
Substrate map
Forthcoming
Virtual unfolding results
NA
Manipulations
Writing: Margin folds
Postal: NA
Opening: NA, Tears, Seal tears
Filing (Storage): Cuts, Folds, sewing holes (sewn into a letter book)
Sewing holes
Repair: Mends
Damage
Water stains (tide lines)
Features
Adhesive creep in slits
Dirt on panels/ in crease
Radiating wrinkles
Wrinkles
Bifolium
Landscape
Deckle edges
Transcription and translation
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. Jana Dambrogio, Daniel Starza Smith, Jennifer Pellecchia, Alison Wiggins, Andrea Clarke, & Alan Bryson. Illustrations by Nicole Araya, Annie Dunn, Matthew Li, & Jana Dambrogio. The Spiral-Locked Letters of Elizabeth I & Mary, Queen of Scots (accessible PDF). Electronic British Library Journal, 2021, Article 10. Open Access Downloads as of August 2022: 18,000 (British Library: 17,500; MIT DSpace: 590)
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
Citation for the letter(s)
UH0060
Original
Elizabeth I’s letter to Sir Ralph Sadler (April 10, 1585). British Library, Add. MS 89293, fols. 82r–83v.
Model
MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Boxes 2, 16.
Video
Forthcoming