#letter locking

[shakespearenews]

Modelled after Robert Devereaux's letter to Queen Elizabeth I, British Library Add. MS 74286, fol. 9 England (1590–1601) 

 The letterpacket is pleated and adds a security enhancement: a triangular corner cut from the bottom of the writing paper and laced through a cut in the folded packet. The high-level security points to the letter are particularly private, emphasizing the sender's social and emotional vulnerability. We used Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex's letter to create the letter prop, see: Shakespeare props, Merchant of Venice, Antonio to Bassanio: "the body of my friend". (UH0249).

[shakespearenews]

Ira Aldridge’s folded letter (no date) (UH6193, LUV292)

Modelled after Ira Aldridge to recipient, no date. Walter O. Evans, MD, and Linda J. Evans, private collection. Model located in the Massach

shakespearenews.com

[majesty-z]

I recently saw a TikTok about letter locking and consequently started writing letters. I've written 15 of them for my best friend. I'm going to give them to her when we hang out again because I don't have a messenger pigeon. Or a wax seal kit. Well, there is the stamp thing but it's got my mother's work info on it. Not very stylish.

[105nt]

This is a great article about locking letters.

Mary, Queen of Scots used a complicated “letterlocking” process to conceal the secrets of the last letter she wrote before she was beheaded, researchers have discovered.

...

"The mechanics of this lock force the person opening the letter to tear the lock apart in order to access the contents,” write the academics. “Because the lock breaks in multiple places, it is impossible to piece back together in a way that would allow it to pass through the slits again; if someone thought their correspondence had been tampered with, it would be relatively simple to detect."

You have to follow the link to the BL paper to see how it's done.

Mary, Queen of Scots ‘locked’ final letter using paper-folding, research finds

On the eve of her execution, Mary wrote a last message to French king, which scholars believe she used elaborate skill to secure

[shakespearenews]