So many of these vintage drop cap and page spacer images have hidden elements. In the case of this letter T, there’s a bird hidden among the flowers and leaves.
This letter T with bird print foundry piece was used to decorate section headings in a 2-volume French work about flowers. It was published in 1867, so it is fairly likely to be safely in the public domain.
Like all of the 13 letters the publisher used, the letter is capitalized and styled with a series of circles and crosses. Draped around the letters are flowers and in this case we also have a little bird.
You can view all of the letters that are clearly from the same print foundry set at the vintage French Printer’s Letters page.
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.
