Paper knife

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Bakelite letter opener

A paper knife or letter opener is a knife-like object used to open envelopes or to slit uncut pages of books. Electric versions are also available, which work by using motors to slide the envelopes across a blade. These have the advantage of being able to handle a greater volume of envelopes, but the blade can slice into the contents of the envelope and damage them.

Letter openers may be composed of wood, metal, plastic, sometimes even ivory, or a combination of materials. Some modern openers have a hidden razor blade inside a plastic handle.

Japanese letter opener

Patrick Henry's letter opener

American politician Patrick Henry is famous for making a speech before the Virginia House of Burgesses on March 23, 1775, stating the famous words "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" After this, he pretended to plunge a letter opener into his chest.[1]

Attempted assassination of MLK

Izola Curry plunged a letter opener into the chest of the reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. on September 20, 1958, at book-signing in a Harlem department store. NYPD policemen Al Howard and Phil Romano took King in the chair down to an ambulance that took King to Harlem Hospital, and its top team of trauma surgeons, Dr. John W. V. Cordice, Jr. and Dr. Emil Naclerio. Chief of surgery Aubre de Lambert Maynard entered and attempted to pull out the letter opener from King’s chest, but cut his glove on the blade; a surgical clamp was used to pull it out.[2]

  • Opening a letter

  • Electric letter opener

  • Conventional letter opener

  • uncut book pages, to be cut with a paper knife

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References

  1. ↑ Kukla, Amy; Kukla, Jon (2002). Patrick Henry: Voice of the Revolution. PowerPlus Books. pp. 45–46. ISBN 0-8239-5725-X. 
  2. ↑ Michael Daly (January 20, 2014). "The Black and White Men Who Saved Martin Luther King’s Life". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 2014-01-22. Retrieved January 22, 2014. "Stabbed in the chest in 1958, one mistake or sneeze would have fatally severed his aorta if not for the deft work for two cops and two surgeons." 
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