Letterlocking

Letterlocking is a technique of folding a letter so that it becomes its own envelope. The letter is often secured with a wax seal and is designed so that it cannot be easily opened and resealed. To read the letter, seals must be broken and/or some paper must be torn. This provided security to correspondence long before the advent of micro-printing and obscuring envelopes.

The expert of letterlocking is Jana Dambrogio, a conservator at MIT Libraries. She's found examples from Queen Elizabeth I, Machiavelli, Galileo, Marie Antoinette and others. There are numerous ways to lock a letter, and many can be found at the well-researched and resource rich Letterlocking.org. Additionally, there's a YouTube channel featuring different styles, including ones from the Harry Potter movies.

Letters locked this way always remind me of notes that we used to pass in school, with their elaborate ways of folding to keep our secrets safe. I've gotten a few letters mailed to me like this and it always hurts me a little to rip into them. I was reminded of this art by pen pal and book artist Sara, whose photo illustrates this post and who sent me a great recreation of a Butterfly Lock. Don't they look lovely? Have you sent or received a locked letter? Do you have a favorite technique?

Comments

[Cynthia]

I have a set of notes from a friend in 10th grade class - obviously before texting. Each one is folded into a little triangle shape. I've mailed a few to my sister for fun. She loves the process of unlocking them!

[Karen BRASETH]

I gave them to my kids and husband last year for Valentine’s Day — a lot of work, but it was fun and they loved it.

[Michael H. Gerloff]

Donovan, what an inspiring post! Though locked letters that have no seperate envelopes are not allowed to be sent with German Post I tried this quite some times and they always arrived. I think they look gorgeous. I use larger sized paper than our standard legal size (A4) so that the folded letter won‘t be too small. The thicker paper kids use in school for drawing is perfect and gives a nice tactile impression.

[Joe F.]

I have indeed sent locked letters. Well, sort of -- I sent some letters through the mail using the triangular fold I learned about from you fine folks. Of course, one of the reasons that this fold was used on the Eastern Front during WWII was that it *was* easy to open, to make sure sensitive information wasn't being passed along accidentally. So I'm not sure to what extent that counts.

Granted, when I sent mine, I always closed the end with a sticker, which would have certainly made surreptitious snooping difficult.

But boy, I can't wait to try some of these! How neat!

[Alan B]

That's a fascinating website. I recently sent birthday greetings written on a flexagon, trusting the recipient would be able to find all six faces. I did put it in an envelope, though, to stop postal workers rearranging it in transit!