One would think that the letter D would not be among the more elusive letters to find on vintage materials but, it has been over 2 years since I’ve added a new fancy letter D to Reusable Art.
This letter D design is also special because it is one of a set of 23 different letters that came from the same work. A few of them have mythological creatures hiding amongst the decorations but all have leaves and flowers adorning the black and white letter. While this letter D design does not include one of the animals, it does have a flower and a berry or two. All of the letters in the set are similarly sized – 150px X 281px.
They were all found in a book about Japanese fairy tales that was published in 1887. More than likely they were purchased by the publisher from a print foundry. I have found a few of the letters used in other books which would indicate the illustrator of this book was not the artist behind this fancy letter D design and the other letters. You can find the rest of the set by following each of the provided links: A, C, D, E, F, G, I, K, L, M, O, P, Q, S, T, V, W and Y.
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.
