A recursively-perforated lock from Lord Cobbam to Sir Francis Walsingham, France (1582-1583)(UH0165)

Letterlocking: A recursively-perforated lock from Lord Henry Cobbam to Sir Francis Walsingham, France (1582-1583)

Modelled after diplomat Sir Henry Cobham’s letter to Sir Francis Walsingham, France (1 January 1582-1583), The National Archives, Kew, England, SP 78/7/1.

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

An elaborate locking mechanism in which the shaped paper lock recursively perforates itself and the letterpacket.

Produced by MIT Video Production. Directed and demonstrated by Jana Dambrogio. Funded by the Seaver Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries in support of our project, “Unlocking History.” Special thanks to MIT Video Production staff and Ayako Letizia.

Citation information: Authors: Jana Dambrogio and the Unlocking History Research Group. Title: "A recursively-perforated lock from Sir Henry Cobham to Sir Francis Walsingham, France (1582/1583)," Letterlocking Instructional Videos. Unlocking History number 0165/Letterlocking Unique Video number: 165. Date filmed: December 2017. Duration: 6:09. Date posted: 9 January 2022. Video URL: [Insert URL]. Date accessed: [Date].

Copyright 2017–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.

To find out more about letterlocking, visit http://letterlocking.org and follow us on social media @letterlocking.

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