I found the following on the web.
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.
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