Unlocking History Number (UH#)
UH0013
Original
Queen Elizabeth I's letter appointing Sir Ralph Sadler to act as keeper of England's most dangerous prisoner, Mary, Queen of Scots (1584)
Model and research notes
MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 16.
Letterlocking Unique Video Number(s) (LUV #s) & Instructional video(s) URL
LUV013 https://youtu.be/tuClTbXAE5g?si=s5XhFpKTKgh5Q2Qz
Instructional video info transcription
Forthcoming
Letterlocking category Number (LC #)
LC01Z
Letterlocking format Number (LF #)
4RT
Security score
Zero
Assessment of Confidence in assigning LC#
Attested
Substrate
Paper
Dimensions
Forthcoming
Opened (in mm): H: 319mm x W: 205mm
Letterpacket (in mm):
Manifestation
Opened
Distinctive letterlocking style(s)
NA
Locking Mechanism
NA, Fold
Security enhancements
Cross-hatching
Hatching
Letterlocking category formula (shorthand)
Fold (F)
Letterlocking manipulation sequence (shorthand)
Fold + fold + fold + fold +fold + fold
Locking instructions
Two nested bifolia. Back two leaves do not have long-edge to long-edge creases. First two leaves fold together long-edge to long-edge, keep folded. Fold long-edge to long-edge and unfold. Fold short-edge to short-edge and keep folded. Fold short-edge to short-edge. Unfold.
Images
Forthcoming
Foldable(s)
Forthcoming
Step-by-steps
Forthcoming
Substrate map
Forthcoming
Virtual unfolding results
NA
Manipulations
Writing: Margin folds
Postal: NA
Opening: NA
Filing (Storage, Display): NA
Repair: State of book at Sotheby's: old front rigid board exists from earlier binding, 19th c, thin bd blue paper over looks no earlier than 19c h 360 x w 223, acidic old boards, “11016 Ph” written on inside of bk board on paste down. Book rebound in new binding when viewed years later at British Library. Mend along gutter fold of two nested bifolia.
Damage
Tears
Features
Dirt on panels/ in crease
Article(s)
2023. Daniel Starza Smith & Jana Dambrogio. Letterlocking: securing correspondence before envelopes in Routledge Encyclopedia of the Renaissance World. Lauren Shohet, subject editor.
Book
Jana Dambrogio, Daniel Starza Smith, and the Unlocking History Research Group. Letterlocking, The Hidden History of the Letter. Cambridge and London: MIT Press, 2025.
Citation for the letter(s)
UH0013
Original
Elizabeth I to Sir Ralph Sadler (August 12, 1584). British Library, Add MS 89293, fols. 1r-4v.
Model
MIT Libraries, Unlocking History Research Group archive, MC0760, Box 16.
Video
LUV013
Jana Dambrogio and the Unlocking History Research Group, “Queen Elizabeth I's letter appointing Sir Ralph Sadler to act as keeper of England's most dangerous prisoner, Mary, Queen of Scots, England, (1584).” Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0013/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 013. Filmed: June 2014. Posted: June 2014. Duration: 2:01. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuClTbXAE5g. Accessed: March 4, 2025.