Robert Devereux’s spiral-locked letter to Queen Elizabeth I, England (c.1590) (UH0094)

Modelled after Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex’s letter to Queen Elizabeth I of England (c. 1590), the British Library, Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex's letters addressed to Queen Elizabeth I (1590–1601), Add. MS 74286, fol. 1.

Model found in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries (MIT), Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC 0760.

In order for the gorgeous, tightly-laced pattern to develop, a lock made of a flat and narrow band of paper must pass through a series of small slits made into itself and the letterpacket.

Letters found with many slits parallel to and millimeters from the fore-edge with no signs of sealing wax may have been secured shut either using this technique we referred to as spiral-locking. A tool is used to create a small slit parallel to and about 4mm from the fore-edge of the packet that goes through the letterpacket close to the bottom edge. The lock folds in half and travels through the slit. Once through the slit, the lock is temporarily unfolded and pressed flat as it spans up to the next slit. The slits enable the lock to travel from one side of the packet to the other. The “sewing” of the lock through itself and the packet continues in the same manner. The advantage of using a paper lock cut from a source other than the letter substrate is that the paper lock may be quite long, so the letterlocker may sew the lock through itself more times. Devereux’s letters have five or six slits along a panel that measures only 37 mm (or 1.5 inches) high. Attached spiral lock variations have one to six slits depending on variables including the height of the letterpacket and the length of the lock. When the letter tears open the slits can often run together and appear to look like one continuous crooked slit.

Produced by MIT Video Production. Directed and demonstrated by Jana Dambrogio, Thomas F. Peterson (1957) Conservator, MIT Libraries and co-general editor of Letterlocking.org and Dictionary of Letterlocking (DoLL). Funded by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries. Special thanks to Andrea Clarke, Ayako Letizia, Annie Dunn, Emily Hishta Cohen, Mary Uthuppuru, Brien Beidler, and Daniel Starza Smith.

Citation information: Authors: Jana Dambrogio and the Unlocking History Research Group. Title: “Letterlocking: Robert Devereux’s spiral-locked letter to Queen Elizabeth I, England (c. 1590)" Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0094/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 094. Date filmed: October 2016. Duration: 15:01. Date posted: October 2016. Video URL: [Insert URL]. Date accessed: [Date].

Copyright 2016–present. Jana Dambrogio, the Unlocking History Research Group, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). All rights reserved. The following copyrighted material is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.... Contact the MIT Technology Licensing Office for any other licensing inquiries.

NB: Letterlock responsibly. Be mindful of open flames or hot tools.

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YouTube URL: http://bit.ly/EssexToQEI or    • Robert Devereux’s spiral-locked lette...