Typophile

You read my mind, Dav, I was gonna suggest the same.

Yes, but do sub in Kris's actually-usable "g" from here:
http://typophile.com/node/14378

hhp

I think the real challenge is to find an Emigre font that doesn't have at least one character you want to redesign! No offense to anybody but try the "a" in Priori, the "k" in Dalliance, the list goes on and on. It's so frustrating.

Oooh. I love the _k_ in Dalliance.

Actually, I think Eidectic Neo would work with Matrix Script.

Patricia, Stephen once said [almost] exactly the same thing:
http://www.typophile.com/node/14346

To me, Eidetic was actually Emigre's first (and still only?) real text font.

hhp

Nah. I disagree, Hrant. If you think Eidetic works as text then Tribute qualifies as a text font. Vendetta too. Fairplex might. Mrs. Eaves sorta. Eidetic has some characters that really leave me cold. I would only use it as a display font.

[Edit: Generally, Eidetic isn't my cup of tea. That's all.]

I think Filosofia is a great text font. Mrs. Eaves would but it's too wide for most uses. I'm not nuts about Eidetic either, but I like Tribute. Somehow the poopy glyphs work for me there.

Try getting a client to go for the "k" in Dalliance

Right. I forgot about Filosofia.

I don't love Eidetic. But I try to put my personal tastes
aside when it comes to judging if a font is texty or not.

Tribute: I agree, it's a text face. Note that I put a
question mark after "still only" - basically because I
haven't been following Emigre recently. I remember
when Eidetic came out I thought it was their first real
text face - so I stand by that. Tribute's "g" was suspect
to me when I first saw it, but then I saw the issue of
the magazine where it was used, and realized it's fine.
So I'm sorry, I forgot to remember Tribute.

Vendetta: Out of context I agree that it can be a
text face. But it has a "fatal" problem in that respect:
its central feature -the facetness- can only really click
with optical masters. Lacking optical masters, that feature
basically kills it as a well-rounded text font: if you set it
at more than one size, it becomes more than one face.
Excoffon knew this, which is why -even with the
availability of the pantograph- he decided to make
Mistral's roughness inversely proportional to size.

The others: no.

hhp

I have tried to use Vendetta for text and always end up using something else instead.

Hrant, why not Filosofia? Just curious...

Edit: I should add that I'd use Eidetic in a heartbeat over Fairplex. They struck out with that one in my book.

Filosofia is a Didone, and its high contrast coupled with
the vertical axis and the high regularity put it outside
what I class as a text face. With some ink bleed at small
sizes it would have a better chance, but its proportions
are too dainty for small text.

hhp

Fairplex was a bad suggestion. It is more a display/headline/advertising text font. Filosofia is a Didone, but a very warm and warn one. Again, though, not completely well suited for reading. I once saw a cookbook done with Vendetta and it was lovely. I think Vendetta might be a tad thin, but if you use the Medium weight and can afford a larger point size it is nice.