There’s a lot of detail on this fancy letter image. The drop cap letter I is accompanied by a mythical winged creature and an urn. It’s a shame that the creature is so tiny because it looks quite well drawn. There are geometric shapes, curli-ques and straight lines surrounding the I and the long, arrow-tipped base makes the letter really wrap around other images or words nicely.
Thomas E. Hill made quite an ambitious work when he wrote Hill’s Album of Biography and Art in 1882. He did not indicate whether the artwork is from his own hand, another artist or primarily from print foundries.
This image is copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown.
