Letterlocking
The Hidden History of the Letter
$83.59
- Hardcover
528 pages
- Release Date
8 April 2025
Summary
The rich history of a centuries-old document security technology—folding and securing a letter into its own envelope for delivery—and a comprehensive guide to learning how to make your own locked letters.
Before the invention of the gummed envelope in the 1830s, how did people secure their private letters? The answer is letterlocking—the ingenious process of securing a letter using a combination of folds, tucks, slits, or adhesives such as sealing wax, so that it becomes its own envel…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780262049276 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0262049279 |
| Author: | Jana Dambrogio, Daniel Starza Smith |
| Publisher: | MIT Press Ltd |
| Imprint: | MIT Press |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 528 |
| Release Date: | 8 April 2025 |
| Weight: | 567g |
| Dimensions: | 229mm x 216mm |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
“Excellent… This book is not only for academics: Step-by-step diagrams provide a how-to for those looking to lock their own letters. Pass a note to a friend, or foe, in one neat package.”—The Wall Street Journal“A serious object of interdisciplinary study… The book is both a foundational text and a hands-on guide, featuring over 300 diagrams and a dictionary of sixty technical terms… A boon for research and conservation.”—Fine Books & Collections “Letterlocking is a meticulously researched and excellent piece of scholarship, which provides the first comprehensive analysis of the field of letterlocking. It is a very handsome volume that is both engaging and well-written.”—Review of English Studies“[A] truly monumental research effort… Incredible breadth and quality of work.”—Journal of the American Institute for Conservation“The authors give a masterly analysis of the many methods used in letterlocking… This fascinating history is beautifully illustrated and includes a DIY section for present-day emulators.”—The Times Literary Supplement“A remarkable, analytical survey of the astonishing variety of techniques devised, from the Middle Ages to the present day, to render epistolary communications secure.” —The Seventeenth Century
About The Author
Jana Dambrogio
Jana Dambrogio is Thomas F. Peterson (1957) Conservator for Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries. She previously held positions at the US National Archives, the United Nations, and the Vatican Apostolic Archives.
Daniel Starza Smith is Senior Lecturer in Early Modern English Literature at King’s College London. His books include John Donne and the Conway Papers and (with coeditor Joshua Eckhardt) Manuscript Miscellanies in Early Modern England. He is General Editor of the correspondence of John Donne for Oxford University Press.
Dambrogio and Smith are founders of the Unlocking History Research Group, an international and interdisciplinary team of experts dedicated to studying and preserving historical communication technologies.
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