raised capitals ☜☞ iniciales altas


Raised initials/capitals, like drop capitals, are intended to catch the reader’s eye, but we first find them in sueltas rather later than we do dropped capitals. Like dropped capitals, they are usually two-line in size, but they are rarer than dropped capitals. Although they are common enough after 1800, they are scarce before that date. The first example, from La Fedra (NYPL 12836) printed by Carlos Gibert y Tutó (Barcelona, active between 1775 and 1796) is found with a text-type which uses long ss, and so is not likely to be later than 1785. The second example, A falta de hechiceros lo quieren ser los gallegos (NYPL 12334), shows another Barcelona printer, Francisco Suriá y Burgada, who has given up long ss: this suelta is likely to date from 1780 to 1806, when Suriá y Burgada stopped printing. [DWC]

See also: drop capitals
  • Los bellos caprichos

    Por Juan Francisco Piferrer, Impresor de S.M.

    [Private collection SzT]

raised capitals
raised capitals
raised capitals