Here are my basic thoughts for the first PDF. I agree that it is the direction worth pursuing.

I very much like the drop cap "N" and how that unique crossbar meets up with the first line.
That said, the columns are too narrow, and the justification is causing awkward hyphens. Make a wider column, and see how a left aligned column works. Strong grids do not disallow ragged right columns.

The baseline of the light tan "ITC Korinna" should be aligned with the large brown "Kori", or maybe nudge the light tan one up a little so the serifs fit more snugly under the brown "Kori"

Have you considered building texture with the full character set? The group that runs vertically below the "N" drop cap is interesting. I feel like you could use that to mimic or evoke an art nouveau aesthetic.

I personally would list the type styles in this order: Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic. Also, according to ITC's own page it isn't italic, but kursiv.

I mostly feel like you can push this in an art nouveau (more color/texture) direction or a '70s (think U&lc specimen) direction. Those seem appropriate to me.

I hope you found this helpful.