Warnock seems reasonable. It is fairly contemporary and has an x-height tall enough to be seen at 10-point. It has a really humanist, stroke quality to it, too.

However, I never seen Warnock set in a long text, so staying with 1970’s classics like, lo and behold, ITC Garamond, might be the way to go :)

Bram, that smiley tells me you’re joking. Right? RIGHT??!!?!?!

Don’t make me open a can of legibility spray on you.

Of course, Mr. Crossgrove, of course.

I’d suggest Caslon. Very readable and the archetypal British typeface (though used for the Declaration of Independence).

I have to agree! When in doubt, set it in Caslon.

I hope this isn’t a dumb question but… which Caslon? There appear to be a number of Caslons - Adobe, Classico, #3, 540. Is there one in particular you have in mind?

And why Caslon over, say, Warnock? This is an honest question - it’s difficult for me to understand how those of you who have experience make these sorts of decisions, and some of the terms that get thrown around sound are like wine terms - “lively,” “warm” - I’m trying hard to associate them with what I’m seeing!

I kind of like Paperback. I think someone suggested it in another thread a while back for a gritty crime/pulp project.

Jessica,

re: your last question: It’s a matter of flavor, of tone. Caslon is very sensible, reliable, some would say boring and old-fashioned. Warnock is more electric, crisp, modern. Another face like Paperback is more tough, hard-boiled, flat-footed. Others have more flavor, or different flavors, and this aspect of typography is what interests book typographers. It’s not really different from display typography, but the flavors have to be subtle. I have read books set in Trump Mediaeval and it’s a nice dark color, but the shapes are so peculiar and exotic that it’s a little distracting.

Your material is gritty 70’s cop crime romances for women (to oversimplify). What is the appropriate tone to overlay on the text, via type choice? Some might say Century Schoolbook is appropriate here, or newspaper types. But your choice can also influence the tone. For example, if you chose Fournier, it is still readable and serviceable, but more delicate, old-fashioned, and might draw out the romantic element of the stories. The type’s own tone or flavor could be a contrast or counterpoint to the tone of the writing.

This might all sound like a nonsensical wine-snob discussion. It’s like that; if you’re into the details to the degree that you’re using descriptors like warm, lively, quaint, aggressive, serious, then you’re perceiving the qualities typefaces add to the text they’re representing. If it doesn’t matter, or if these influences are undesireable, use types that disappear: Times, Caslon, Baskerville, Janson, Caledonia, Sabon.

I think it’s nice that you’re curious about this.

My suggestion: print out some type specimen (in high dpi, please) and see it for yourself.

Two things to watch, among the many, are:

crossgrove, thank you - and that all makes sense; there are simply so many choices that I have no idea how to go about narrowing it down!

I think I want to be subtle, for the most part. I want the typeface to complement the subject matter and tone, and not to look like it was printed out on Microsoft Word in Times New Roman or whatever Garamond comes with Word, and yet I don’t really want it to draw attention to itself. I’d prefer it not to be overtly romantic.

This is good, because it’s forcing me to think about what I really want … and I think if I had to pick a single descriptor it’d have to be that I’d mostly like it to have a “British” feel - or more specifically, a London-in-the-70s feel! ;-)- rather than a hard-boiled cop-detective feel or a romantic feel. And … this is entertainment; not meant to be serious technical reading. I want it to be serviceable and very, very readable - *almost* invisible to the reader - but really attractive and clean.

Perhaps this suggests Caslon - though part of me is still drawn to Dolly and/or Warnock! And I just don’t know enough to know if using those would be a mistake, or if Caslon would be boring and ugly, or if Century Schoolbook would be just too common - or maybe no one would notice at all and I’m driving myself crazy for nothing.

Whew, this could be a challenging hobby! Fun, though; I’ve just sent away for a bunch of books from Amazon, because I’m liking this …

It does seem like printing out samples would be a good idea, but brampitoyo … *how* exactly do I print out a type specimen for fonts without buying them? I can’t figure that out, though I know surely there must be a way!

You can usually find them right at the foundry’s website.

Here’s some specimens (and a few more ideas) to get you going:
Warnock
Freight Text
Kingfisher

Or you could always ask for the foundry’s type specimen. I know that, among many others, FontShop has a free one.

There’s a secret here of real use to you. Some Adobe Open Type releases, like Warnock, offer optical weights, so that instead of Warnock Pro regular, you can choose Warnock Subhead, which is a shade cleaner and thus will come out of laser printing as clean, or cleaner, than the regular optical weight. Minion Pro, Adobe Jenson, Chaparral—same option. If you find yourself setting 9 pt for long stretches, try ITC Stone Serif, it’s a superbly readable workhorse I’ve used for many such jobs.

And let’s not forget Garamond Premier Pro.

ITC Stone Serif has a stubby r, but “reads like butter”, says Before&After. But does it scream “English”? I never tried it myself.