Folding and securing paper to function as its own enclosure
February 10, 2016 6:11 AM   Subscribe

‘Letterlocking refers to the folding and securing of any writing surface (such as papyrus, parchment, and paper) to function as its own enclosure.’ In their YouTube channel, Jana Dambrogio of MIT Libraries and her colleagues demonstrate a number of letterlocking techniques, from a simple method used by Russian soldiers in WWII, to more elaborate and ‘secure’ schemes employed by the likes of John Donne, Constanijn Huygens, Elizabeth Stuart and Queen Elizabeth I.

Other videos in the channel show us how to use invisible inks (i, ii, iii), and how to conceal secret messages in raw eggs...

Related: What It's Like To Open Locked Letters.

Previously: ‘an unprecedented collection of European correspondence from the late 17th and early 18th centuries’ (including many letterlocks).
posted by misteraitch (18 comments total) 71 users marked this as a favorite
 
AKA how notes were folded for transport in schools everywhere prior to the advent of SMS.
posted by grumpybear69 at 6:19 AM on February 10, 2016 [13 favorites]


This is the one we used in middle school. I still have a handful of them that my wife wrote me.
posted by soplerfo at 6:57 AM on February 10, 2016 [4 favorites]


These are gorgeous. I have to wonder how any would fare getting through the postal mail today. Would the sorting machine shred the seal and mangle your letter? Surely there must be an enthusiast community still attempting to use these techniques, I wonder what their delivery success rate is. Can I join?
posted by books for weapons at 7:15 AM on February 10, 2016


I watched the John Donne video and all I could think was, Wow that person has really nice hands*.

*Not a hand fetishist.
posted by echocollate at 7:18 AM on February 10, 2016


I'm going to think of John Donne as "John Over-Donne" from now on.

OK, fine. This is really cool.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:31 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is the one we used [yt] in middle school.

It is also useful for passing notes in prison, where the video maker should spend the rest of his or her life for that hideous mutilation of Air.
posted by The Bellman at 7:41 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


They're also handy for maximal glitter payload delivery, just sayin'
posted by scruss at 9:03 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


Someone told me that this was a common way of packaging cocaine back in what he called "the day."
posted by Splunge at 9:41 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


It's like ROT13 for the tangible world: not a serious security barrier, but an indicator announcing that "I would like this to stay closed, thankyouverymuch."

Very cool, thank you for posting this!
posted by wenestvedt at 11:12 AM on February 10, 2016


Would the sorting machine shred the seal and mangle your letter?
I don't think I've ever had the nerve to try mailing a locked letter without an envelope, but I can confirm that sorting machines have a tendency to ruin seals on the outside of envelopes.
posted by usonian at 11:21 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


My first wife used to send me letters with wax seals. Most of the seals didn't make it through. Often letters were delayed, probably because they messed up the sorters.
posted by Splunge at 1:05 PM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is also why you don't send animal crackers through the mail.
posted by rifflesby at 5:59 PM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]


I started watching the John donne one and just got bothered by the fact they have the camera set up as though a right handed person is doing the demo.

Also it looks like Elizabeth I is lopping off a bunch of her letter. What's the deal with that? They don't show a reassembly of it at the end...
posted by Tandem Affinity at 8:12 PM on February 10, 2016


Tandem Affinity—I’m not altogether sure. In some cases locks like those would have been cut from blank margins. Perhaps including part of the letter’s text on the triangular lock was an anti-tampering measure to reassure the recipient that the original lock had remained in place when they opened the letter and were able to line up the text from the main body with that on the lock?

By the way, Jana Dambrogio has a website which links to several of these videos (and more besides). When I looked at it yesterday it looked like there were a number of broken image links there, hence my not mentioning it in the post: but those links seem to be fixed now I look at it today.

A link from her site leads to an interesting post by Brien Beidler on how to use (and how to make) sealing wax.
posted by misteraitch at 2:03 AM on February 11, 2016 [4 favorites]


Also it looks like Elizabeth I is lopping off a bunch of her letter. What's the deal with that?
Watching the video in fullscreen hi-def, it appears that the letter the demonstrator switches to to cut has been prepared with notes on the historical letter that it's reproducing. When the corner is being sliced off there's some guide marks on the triangle and the words (upside down) height of original [unreadable] lock. I think the original letter was likely blank in that corner. The John Donne video has a bit in the description that seems to confirm this as an aspect of the style.
John Donne wrote this letter on a bifolium (a large piece of paper folded to make two pages or folios), on paper with gilded edges. Only the first folio is used to write on; a triangle-shaped piece of paper is cut from the bottom outside corner of the second folio.
posted by books for weapons at 9:12 AM on February 11, 2016 [1 favorite]


These are great; thank you for posting them!
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:24 PM on February 11, 2016


Also nice when nearly all videos are 30-60% too long, too loud, and have stupid music that these had none of those things. No one even said "Hey guys".
posted by bongo_x at 10:32 PM on February 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


This is wonderful.
posted by Akhu at 10:58 AM on February 16, 2016


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