@failures art,
Serif is more readable in text. London Times used Times Roman for text, with Helvetica (san-serif) for headlines. Probably still a good combination. Headings also work well using a serif font like Times, using a combination of caps and small caps.
Is monotype the same as a monospaced typeface like courier? If so, it is used almost exclusively for tabular columns, and then only because the digits will line up with one another vertically.
No more than two typefaces per page, please, unless you want to give someone a throbbing headache without them knowing quite why.
If you can find Occidental, it is about the most ornate thing you can get without losing legibility. Legible or not, it's too much for most uses.