Which features should I look at when choosing typefaces for classical, text-rich publications?

Question

I am thinking about self-publishing some of Søren Kierkegaard's works (mainly because I realised that I can release them at a much cheaper price than what they currently cost). In order to keep costs down, I am looking for some good free font(s) that would work well in this context. I have (more or less) decided upon a size of 13.5 cm x 21.5 cm (approximately the same as 6 in x 9 in), font size 10pt. The number of pages varies between 100 and 300 pages, but in order to keep costs down, I keep the top and bottom margins small (probably around 0.72 in and 0.65 in, respectively). I am using running headers in the top margins.

Any good recommendations? I know, I know: It depends on taste. The problem is, I do not trust my own taste on this. I need advice from someone with more experience than myself. Any particular features to look for in typefaces for these kinds of works? Any advice, anything at all, is appreciated.

By the way: There is a lot of Greek text in these works, so the fonts need to support this well.

Answer 1

Gentium from SIL will likely work well for a free font. The SIL Open Font license also means that you can edit the font for your own needs using a font editor like FontForge. Gentium was designed for scholarly work and supports Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek.

Answer 2

I can't recommend a font but I would consider fonts that were available up to the 1850s, or at most up to the beginning of the 20th C.

So, maybe some modern romans. I don't really see the Arts and Crafts movement working that well for today's audience but ... it might.

The UX guy in me says - know your audience.