Re: [csswg-drafts] [css-inline] Arabic drop-caps (#2399)

I’ve only ever seen examples of this form as non-connected (from what I recall it’s a very rare practice in general, and I can’t think of many modern day uses of it. Attached example is from Ketab’e Hafte (Book of the Week) published in Tehran, 1962. 
I agree with Shervin that it’s unlikely any reliable resource can be found on this, as it’s a purely typographic convention and not something–I reckon– you would ever see in calligraphy or manuscripts. 


 
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Sahar Afshar

PhD Candidate | Research Assistant 
Centre for Printing History & Culture
Faculty of Art, Design and Media, Birmingham City University
Parkside Building, 5 Cardigan Street, Birmingham B4 7BD

www.cphc.org.uk  @sahafshar

> On 12 Dec 2018, at 16:23, Shervin Afshar <notifications@github.com> wrote:
> 
> @r12a <https://github.com/r12a>, this topic has been bouncing around for a bit now. My personal take is that since this is a novelty of a typographical practice in Arabic script text, there is no reliable source. However, the research shows that (a) most cases of drop-caps in Arabic script texts are not using joining forms; (b) through my research on the matter, I believe that there is also some precedence for the drop-caps in Arabic script text to use of joining forms. This requires further investigation, but I reproduce the case that I'm referring to as a rare precedence.
> 
> What follows is from the volume Compendium of Latin Translations of Persian Astronomical Tables <https://www.wdl.org/en/item/10676/#institution=qatar-national-library>, selected portions of Zīj-i Sultānī <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zij-i_Sultani> translated into Latin and published by Oxford University Press in 1655.
> 
>  <https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/875962/49882078-ad7fba00-fde4-11e8-8487-b82f50932f65.png>
>  <https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/875962/49881977-6d203c00-fde4-11e8-88d2-796168ac9007.png>
> Further pointers:
> – my thread on Persian Computing <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/persian-computing/W-Upl6DAEcg>
> – Liam Quin's blogpost <https://barefootliam.blogspot.com/2014/05/drop-caps-other-writing-systems-other.html> has a section with his findings, points to the thread above
> 
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Received on Wednesday, 12 December 2018 22:11:12 UTC