I found the following on the web.
http://www.wdl.org/en/item/623/
The title of the original book is as follows.
A discourse in commendation of the valiant as vertuous minded gentleman, Maister Frauncis Drake
For the benefit of readers learning English, I mention that the modern spelling is “virtuous”.
The title page is displayed by the following link.
http://www.wdl.org/en/item/623/pages.html#volume/1/page/4
The book is dated 1581.
The book has some interesting single type borders.
There are various sorts used in combination to produce designs.
On page 6, I noticed that on one line there is long s k without a special ligature sort and later a long s h with a ligature sort.
So the font had some ligatures yet a long s k ligature was not used: so maybe a long s k ligature was not available in the font or maybe a long s k ligature was available in the font yet was not used.
It appears that a long s i ligature may have been used.
I am wondering how the long s a, long s e, long s o and long s u were produced.
I am wondering whether the long s had what would have been a very long overhanging piece or whether, in each case, the two letters are on the same piece of type, in the same way as a ligature even though the printing areas do not touch.
On page 8, there is use of a blackletter font.
William Overington
7 November 2009