Over recent years we’ve been treated to a series of fascinating advances in the world of x-ray imaging, as researchers have developed their x-ray microtomography techniques and equipment to the point ...

In a steady, stately script, an anonymous Dutch writer living around 1700 wrote a letter: “I never thought you’d be such a miserable dog,” it went. “If you’ve got something to say, just say it to my ...

Before envelopes existed, cleverly folding up a letter was a crucial privacy tactic. Only now are we learning what those techniques were, and what they reveal about cultures around the world. Imagine ...

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 ...

On the eve of her execution in 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots wrote what is thought to be her very last letter. She had been imprisoned for nearly 20 years for the perceived threat she represented to ...

Mary, Queen of Scots used a “spiral locking” technique to seal the last letter she wrote before her execution, indicating that she wanted the contents to remain secret, according to research published ...

Centuries before encrypted texts and secure video conferencing, people relied on physical engineering to keep their written messages sturdy, sealed, and secure against eavesdroppers. In a new book, ...

For years, Jana Dambrogio, a conservator at MIT, has been studying the elaborate ways people used to fold and seal their letters to keep busybodies and spies from reading their secrets. The way a ...

Keys: How to Use this Book -- Introduction to Letterlocking -- Building the Story of Letterlocking -- Reading Letterlocking Features -- Locking Mechanisms, Security, and Authentication -- Distinctive ...