initialer

plural initialers

1. The artist who decorates the initial letters in an illuminated manuscript.

   Often the ornamentor was an apprentice to the real artist of the scriptorium, the initialer.

   1946, St. Meinrad Historical Essays - Volume 8, page 24

   2 more examples

   There are also several places where the copyist wrote in the letter but the initialer failed to complete his task (e.g., 18v20, 19r6).

   1984, Carl R. Trahman, David F. Bright, Edwin S. Ramage, Classical Texts and Their Traditions: Studies in Honor of C.R. Trahman

   The printing press process borrowed the manuscript's assembly-line sequence of people and tasks, replacing rulers and scribes and initialers with typecasters who cut type, printers who designed the page and the book, compositors who set the type in place, cutters who made woodblock prints for illustrations and initials, and pressman who worked the press itself.

   2015, Leslie Howsam, The Cambridge Companion to the History of the Book, →ISBN, page 81

2. The initial episode of a television show or series of films.

   At least in the initialer last week, the quiet cousin was completely irrelevant.

   2013, Lynn Spigel, Michael Curtin, The Revolution Wasn't Televised: Sixties Television and Social Conflict, →ISBN

   4 more examples

   This maintains the standard of excellence set by the initialer and emerges as a well-knit chapter in the adventures of Leslie Charteris' popular modern Robin Hood, Simon Templar — otherwise known as "The Saint."

   1939 -, Motion Picture Review Digest - Volumes 4-5, page 80

   Under Nicholas Ray's sock direction, the Marlon Brando mannerisms displayed in the initialer are gone and the role here carries much greater audience sympathy and response as a result.

   1991, Randall Riese, The unabridged James Dean: his life and legacy from A to Z, →ISBN, page 455

   Everything worked okay in the initialer except the one-dimensional and much too obvious prejudice of the personnel manager where Miss Carroll will work.

   1993, J. Spencer Beck, The Variety history of show business, →ISBN, page 131

   . . . . despite a trite story, the initialer had to its credit a breezy pacing from director John English and excellent camera work.

   1995 -, Gary A. Yoggy, Riding the video range: the rise and fall of the western on television

3. One who initials a document.

   Initials affixed in this manner do not, therefore, by themselves bring the initialer into any connection with the order for criminal purposes.

   1947, United States. Office of Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, United States. Dept. of State, United States. War Dept, Nazi conspiracy and aggression: Supplement A-B., page 772

   2 more examples

   It appeared, however, that the citation contained the names of the initialers only insofar as they were so-called company personnel and that union employees who had also initialed in the area, while mentioned in the inspector's notes, were not mentioned in the citation.

   1981, United States. Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, Decisions - Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission

   At the bottom were six blackouts "to protect the initials of FBI employees who saw the letter." I wondered why the letter was so internally popular at the Bureau and what the initialers were being "protected" from.

   2001, Philip H. Melanson, Secrecy Wars: National Security, Privacy, and the Public's Right to Know, →ISBN