[Tex/LaTex] Typeset text immediately before \lettrine dropped capital

book-designformattinglettrine

How do I add 'sidebar' text? I'm aware that 'sidebar' is likely the wrong word to use. Please let me know what the correct term is. I'm referring to the text to the left of the dropped cap ("The Thanksgiving".)

Some insight: I am working on replicating a 72-page folio of the 1785 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. I'm doing this for fun and to ensure that more people have easy access to the wonderful prose of the 1785 BCP. I am new to LaTeX, and have been working with the language for but a few days. Oh, and I used ABBYY FineReader Pro 11 for the OCR job. The good people o'er yonder at ABBYY headquarters need to get the memo about people using OCR on old documents—their program thinks the long s is an f!

My code is:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lettrine}
\usepackage{fontspec}
    \defaultfontfeatures{Ligatures={Historical}}
    \setmainfont[Ligatures={Common,Rare}]{Adobe Caslon Pro}

\begin{document}
   \lettrine{T}{O} our prayers, O Lord, we join our unfeigned thanks for all thy
   mercies; for our being, our reaſon, and all other endowments and faculties of ſoul
   and body; for our health, friends, food, and raiment, and all the other comforts and
   conveniences of life. Above all we adore thy mercy in ſending thy only Son into the
   world to redeem us from ſin and eternal death, and in giving us the knowledge and           
   ſenſe of our duty towards thee. We bleſs thee for thy patience with us, notwithſtanding
   our many and great provocations; for all the directions, aſſiſtances, and comforts of thy
   Holy Spirit; for thy continual care and watchful providence over us through the whole
   courſe of our lives; and particularly for the mercies and benefits of the paſt day:
   Beſecching thee to continue theſe thy bleſſings to us; and to give is grace to ſhow
   our thankfulneſs in a ſincere obedience to his laws through whoſe merits and
   interceſſion we received them all, thy Son our Saviour Jeſus Chriſt. \textit{Amen.}
\end{document}

A screencap of the original
A screencap of the recreation (using TeXstudio

Thanks!

P.S.: Looking for articles on learning LaTeX (esp. for people with LD) and getting involved in this Stack.

P.P.S: I found that "We bleſs thee for thy patience with us" really spoke to me. The modern BCP (and, frankly, prayers in general) rarely bless God—they're usually intercessions for the blessing of God. Pity that this was removed from later versions.

Best Answer

How about this:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lettrine}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\defaultfontfeatures{Ligatures={Historical}}
\setmainfont[Ligatures={Common,Rare}]{Adobe Caslon Pro}

\newcommand \prelude[1] {\makebox[8em][c]{\em\scriptsize #1.}}

\begin{document}
   \lettrine[ante={\prelude{The Thanksgiving}}, loversize=0.1]{T}{O} 
   our prayers, O Lord, we join our unfeigned thanks for all thy
   mercies; for our being, our reaſon, and all other endowments and faculties of ſoul
   and body; for our health, friends, food, and raiment, and all the other comforts and
   conveniences of life. Above all we adore thy mercy in ſending thy only Son into the
   world to redeem us from ſin and eternal death, and in giving us the knowledge and           
   ſenſe of our duty towards thee. We bleſs thee for thy patience with us, notwithſtanding
   our many and great provocations; for all the directions, aſſiſtances, and comforts of thy
   Holy Spirit; for thy continual care and watchful providence over us through the whole
   courſe of our lives; and particularly for the mercies and benefits of the paſt day:
   Beſecching thee to continue theſe thy bleſſings to us; and to give is grace to ſhow
   our thankfulneſs in a ſincere obedience to his laws through whoſe merits and
   interceſſion we received them all, thy Son our Saviour Jeſus Chriſt. \qquad \textit{Amen.}
\end{document}
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