is an old-style ligature (two joined letters cast on one type) made in some fonts of old-style faces. It is one of the many letter combinations formerly common, in imitation of the work of old manuscript writers.
Many styles of roman types have italic letters to match, but the italic fonts include only capitals, lower-case, figures, and punctuation marks:
Italic Capitals—A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Æ Œ
Italic Lower-case—a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z æ œ
Italic Figures—1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 (
)
Italic Points, etc.[3]—. , : ; - ’ ! ? ) $ &
Small capitals are not made for italic fonts, except in rare cases. When they are needed in composition, capitals of a smaller size of type are justified into the text line.