Enabling c_t and longs_t without enabling s_t ligatures

Question

I'm using the Hoefler Text font in xelatex with long s:

\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont[Contextuals=Inner]{Hoefler Text}

But I want to use the ct ligature (it's from the Rare set):

\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont[Contextuals=Inner, Ligatures={Rare}]{Hoefler Text}

Oh no! fontspec has also replaced all of Hoefler's longst ligatures with st ligatures when loading ct ligatures from the Rare ligature set.

Is there a way to enable the (Rare) ct ligature from Hoefler Text without also enabling the (Rare) st ligature? I tried to use the selnolig package to selective disable the st ligature (\nolig{st}{s|t}) but that also stops the longst ligature from being used. I'm trying to produce text how people of the early 19th century were able to:

• Example #1: Encyclopædia Britannia (5th edition), 1817.

  

• Example #2: The Minion Pro font correctly uses the longst and ct ligatures.

  

Note: People of the early 19th century didn't buy Minion Pro for US $199 (which is like us paying US $4.1 million), so I'd also rather not =)

Answer 1

@tohecz: Thomas's Q is closely related to the questions I referred to, but it seems he's suffering from a problem that's not addressed in these.

I tried to use the selnolig package to selective disable the s_t ligature (\nolig{st}{s|t}) but that also stops the longst ligature from being used.

If I understand correctly, you're expecting selnolig to differentiate between an s and ſ. You're not providing an MWE, but I'm assuming that in your case selnolig just can't differentiate between the two because you don't -- I guess your text only has s and s, so there's nothing selnolig could do for you.

Educated guess: entering your ss correctly is going to produce decent results.

• selnolig disabled. Minion Pro, all available ſ_ ligatures as well as c_t and (inappropriate?) s_t are present.

• selnolig enabled. As above, only s_t is gone.

code:

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{fontspec,selnolig}
\setmainfont[Ligatures=Rare]{Minion Pro}
\nolig{st}{s|t}
\begin{document}
The ſide attraction for moſt ſpectators was the mustard
\end{document}

How about the ſ_t? -- I don't have Hoefler Text, and Minion Pro doesn't have an ſ_t (technically, it does, it's just indistinguishable from unligated ſ t). But, for example, EB Garamond does, and it's not affected by \nolig{st}{s|t} (q.e.d.).

PS: if you're planning to reproduce early 19th century style, Hoefler Text (as well as Minion) will be a bad choice. It's off by at least two centuries, as is obvious from the two Encyclopædia Britannia pages (from the second one even more drastically so than the first). Have a look at a Hoefler's Didot instead, maybe Old Standard or -- inexpensive and most appropriate -- Miller from Font Bureau.

update

Looking at your own answer and your insisting on the idea that a mere Contextuals=Inner is going to suffice to produce correct results -- what needs to be stressed is that correct ſ usage is not as simple as »replace all non-final s by ſ«. I suggest you have a look at how the ſ was handled in the period/the culture whose style you're trying to reproduce. In what contexts was it used? When was a s used instead? Think compound-word word boundaries. What ſ_ ligatures were available? Think, among others, ſ_s. In what contexts were which ſ_ ligatures appropriate/inappropriate? Again, think compound-word word boundaries. What was considered a compound word in the first place? etc.

Further reading: http://babelstone.blogspot.ca/2006/06/rules-for-long-s.html

Answer 2

The quickest way I ended up achieving the desired result was by keeping XeLaTeX with the Contextuals=Inner feature and replaced all occurrences of ct (which occurs far less frequently than ſ) with a command to substitute in a c_t ligature:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{fontspec}

\newfontfamily\hoefler[Ligatures={TeX,Common},Contextuals=Inner]{Hoefler Text}
\newfontfamily\rareliga[Ligatures={TeX,Rare}]{Hoefler Text}
\newcommand{\ct}{\rareliga{}ct{}\hoefler}

\begin{document}
\hoefler
The side attra\ct{}ion for most spe\ct{}ators was the mustard
\end{document}

Not the most elegant way, but it works. I'll go off now and start adding ligatures to Latin Modern.

Answer 3

This is how to add automatic s → ſ substitution (when Contextuals=Inner is enabled) to the Latin Modern font:

feature hist {
  @notf = [a-e g-z];
  sub s' @notf by longs; # use "sf", not "longs f"
  sub longs longs' by s; # words don't end with longs
  sub f longs' by s;     # end with fs, not f_longs
} hist;

feature hlig {
  sub c t by c_t;
} hlig;

Now I just have to add appropriate ligatures for longs_i, longs_l, longs_longs, longs_longs_i, longs_longs_l and every ligature requested at http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Wishes_for_Latin_Modern.

Answer 4

It works, for me at least, to type Style = Historic, Ligatures = Historic

It is worth mentioning that my font is broken, it doesn't have any contextual capabilities. It is Hoefler Text Pro v1.201