Unlocking History number (UH#)

UH0077


Original

Sir Francis Walsingham’s Triangle-locked Letter Written in Code, England (1587)


Model and research notes

MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 16.


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

LUV077  https://youtu.be/HFbrYa5okjw 


Instructional video info transcription

Forthcoming


Letterlocking Category number (LC #)

LC15L


Letterlocking Format number (LF #)

4RW


Security score

Low


Assessment of Confidence in assigning LC#

Attested


Substrate

Paper


Dimensions

Opened (in mm):       310mm x 220mm

Letterpacket (in mm): 80mm x 112mm


Manifestation

Opened


Distinctive letterlocking style(s)

Triangle lock-O


Locking mechanism

Closure flap, Lock, Hybrid-lock, Tuck


Security enhancements

Authenticated exposed seal

Codes and ciphers

Fake security

Steganography      


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

Losses along the edges


Features

Dirt on panels/ in crease

Radiating wrinkles


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)

UH0077

Original 

Sir Francis Walsingham to William Harborne England (June 24, 1587). University of Oxford, Bodleian Libraries, MS Tanner 79, fols. 127/128.


Model

MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 16.


Video

LUV077

Jana Dambrogio and the Unlocking History Research Group, “Sir Francis Walsingham’s Triangle-locked Letter Written in Code, England (1587).” Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0077/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 0077. Filmed: September 2016. Duration: 3:36. Posted: October 2016. URL: https://youtu.be/HFbrYa5okjw. Accessed: March 4, 2025.




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