Decorated initials should be flagged by preceding the letter with an underscore character (_). Decorated initials are typically produced by means of a square woodcut containing the letter itself as well as decorative elements (flowers, vines, faces, animals, etc.). "Framed" initials--produced by overprinting a typographic letter with a decorative frame--should be treated as decorated initials too.
Simple "drop caps" should, however, continue to be captured without any special treatment. A drop cap is simply a large version of the letter (sometimes an elaborate and large version of the letter), but has no added pictorial elements; the latter distinguishes it from a decorated initial.
There may be a few examples about which it is difficult to decide: drop cap or decorated initial? If in doubt, leave out the "_".
(Capture by inserting "_" before letter)
 Decorated A (_A) |
 Decorated T (_T) |
 Decorated S (_S) |
 Decorated A (_A) |
 Decorated A (_A) |
 Decorated F (_F) |
 Decorated U (_U) |
 Decorated W (_W) |
 Decorated T (_T) |
 Decorated W (_W) |
 Decorated I (_I) |
 Decorated M (_M) |
 Decorated R (_R) |
 Decorated R (_R) |
 Decorated C (_C) |
 Decorated S (_S) |
 Decorated P (_P) |
 Decorated V (_V) |
 Decorated F (_F) |
 Decorated T (_T) |
 Decorated T (_T) |
 Decorated I (_I) |
 Decorated K (_K) |
 Decorated S (_S) |
 Decorated R (_R) |
 Decorated G (_G) |
|
 Decorated M (_M) |
 Decorated I (_I) |
 Decorated M (_M) |
|
 Decorated W (_W) |
 Decorated A (_A) |
||
 Decorated C (_C) |
 Decorated L (_L) |
 Decorated W (_W) |
|
 Decorated H (_H) |
|||
(Capture by inserting "_" before letter)
 Framed V (treat as decorated V) |
 Framed R (treat as decorated R) |
 Framed S (treat as decorated S) |
 Framed I (treat as decorated I) |
 Framed T (treat as decorated T) |
|
(Capture by recording letter only, without special marking)
 Drop-cap A |
 Drop-cap E |
 Drop-cap T |
 Drop-cap U |
 Drop-cap T |