• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Postal Privacy: Securing Letters (Etc.) From Prying Eyes

Nov 2015
ramonmercado said:
Undelivered letters shed light on 17th-century society
Click to expand...

Mar 2021
maximus otter said:
Signed, Sealed, and Undelivered: Letters in Trunk Reveal Scandals and Intrigues of 17th Century Lives
Click to expand...

Jun 2021
Hundreds of years ago, people developed ingenious methods to secure their letters from prying eyes – and they did it with only paper, adhesive and folds.

Late at night on 8 February 1587, an imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots composed her last ever letter to her brother-in-law. "Tonight, after dinner, I have been advised of my sentence: I am to be executed like a criminal at eight in the morning," she wrote. "The Catholic faith and the assertion of my God-given right to the English crown are the two issues on which I am condemned." With a sad acceptance of her fate, she asked him to take care of her affairs and pay her servants, wishing him "good health and a long and happy life".

After Mary had finished writing, she then began to fold up the letter to secure its contents. She didn't want her captors snooping – and particularly not her cousin Queen Elizabeth I. However, envelopes were not used in the 1500s – not least because paper was expensive – and there was no trustworthy postal service at the time.

Instead, Mary cut a thin strip from the paper margin, before folding up her message into a small rectangle. After poking the knife through the rectangle to make a hole, she then fed the strip through, looping it and tightening it a few times, creating a "spiral lock". No wax or adhesive was required, but crucially, if someone tried to sneak a look, they would have to rip through the strip, so her brother-in-law would know the message had been intercepted.

Watch a reconstruction of how Mary did it:
Click to expand...

(and the reason for referencing the previous citations from @ramonmercado and @maximus otter is that the article goes on to discuss what seems to be the exact-same fantastic trove of unpaid / unopened / undelivered mail from the era 1680 -1706, which were retained by a married postmaster and mistress (Messrs Brienne & Germain) as a potential (but financially-unrealised) future investment.
 
Ermintruder said:
Nov 2015


Mar 2021


Jun 2021
Hundreds of years ago, people developed ingenious methods to secure their letters from prying eyes – and they did it with only paper, adhesive and folds.



(and the reason for referencing the previous citations from @ramonmercado and @maximus otter is that the article goes on to discuss what seems to be the exact-same fantastic trove of unpaid / unopened / undelivered mail from the era 1680 -1706, which were retained by a married postmaster and mistress (Messrs Brienne & Germain) as a potential (but financially-unrealised) future investment.
Click to expand...

That video how-to on letterlocking is fascinating. If only Mary’s encoding and message transmission technique had been as good as her letter security…

maximus otter
 
I just excited if my letters get delivered in a timely manner.

It is not so bad now, but last Christmas with covid and all, our Christmas Cards took 2 weeks to be delivered and a few never showed up at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top