Best font for my book?

June 6, 2004 6:25 PM

Whilst whittling away on a book within the confines of InDesign, I've come upon a question which is purely subjective in nature: If I wish to present this tome in as nice a fashion as possible, which font should I set the text in? I am looking for a beautiful serif, one which harkens back to the Victorian era, yet is easily readable in a smallish size (12pt).

In other words, friends, what is your favorite serif font?

(I have most major foundries in my collection: Emigre, Font Bureau, Adobe, P22...)

posted by tenseone to Media & Arts (12 answers total)

Bembo really hoists my flag. The rest of the choices in that series are worth consideration too.
posted by Aaorn at 6:36 PM on June 6, 2004

Palatino, Minion, Bauer Bodoni, Agfa Rotis Serif
posted by amberglow at 6:52 PM on June 6, 2004

Response by poster: Both Bembo and Bauer Bodoni appear quite lovely during trial.

I truly appreciate the assistance, my eyes were beginning to bleed whilst scrolling through Suitcase.
posted by tenseone at 6:57 PM on June 6, 2004

Garamond.
posted by MegoSteve at 7:02 PM on June 6, 2004

If you want to give your type that olde feeling, look for one with an "Expert" version, with fancy ligatures and kerning (ff, fi, fl, etc.) , for instance Adobe Garamond.
posted by signal at 7:34 PM on June 6, 2004

And Aaorn's link goes a long way toward answering the original question.
posted by signal at 7:40 PM on June 6, 2004

ooh, bembo is my new fav. v nice aaorn
posted by jmgorman at 8:46 PM on June 6, 2004

Cochin is a beauty, but usually not good for working with on screen.

Utopia is nice at smaller sizes (8pt)

Goudy old style has the feel you're looking for at 12pt (which is fairly large, by the way, not smallish)

Minion is killer too.
posted by bonaldi at 8:52 PM on June 6, 2004

Victorian-era typography was often quite unbeautiful, or at least it is unfashionable and not much loved today. Personally I'd go back a bit further in time with a solid but elegant Baskerville.
posted by misteraitch at 3:22 AM on June 7, 2004

I absolutely love Hoefler Text.
posted by hijinx at 6:22 AM on June 7, 2004

Response by poster: Thank you all ever so much, this is turning out to be much more fun than I had imagined.

Goudy old style has the feel you're looking for at 12pt (which is fairly large, by the way, not smallish)

I suppose it is obvious I have no idea what I am doing. This is my first foray into book-making, and I am beginning small: each book will be 4 1/2 inches by 3 1/4. I suppose I will need to print a few pages and see exactly how tiny I need to set the text.

Ligatures are a must as I have come to realize while reading through the comments, and I jump for joy at having them brought to my attention.

Thank you all, again.
posted by tenseone at 6:40 AM on June 7, 2004

I've got a Garamond fetish.
posted by jpoulos at 9:30 AM on June 7, 2004