diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/book_details.py b/src/calibre/gui2/book_details.py
index 6ad1aaf0c4..a9a0894345 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/book_details.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/book_details.py
@@ -38,14 +38,23 @@ def render_html(mi, css, vertical, widget, all_fields=False): # {{{
                 ans = unicode(col.name())
         return ans
 
-    f = QFontInfo(QApplication.font(widget)).pixelSize()
+    fi = QFontInfo(QApplication.font(widget))
+    f = fi.pixelSize()+1
+    fam = unicode(fi.family()).strip()
+    if not fam:
+        fam = 'sans-serif'
     c = color_to_string(QApplication.palette().color(QPalette.Normal,
                     QPalette.WindowText))
     templ = u'''\
     <html>
         <head>
         <style type="text/css">
-            body, td {background-color: transparent; font-size: %dpx; color: %s }
+            body, td {
+                background-color: transparent;
+                font-size: %dpx;
+                font-family: "%s",sans-serif;
+                color: %s
+            }
         </style>
         <style type="text/css">
             %s
@@ -55,7 +64,7 @@ def render_html(mi, css, vertical, widget, all_fields=False): # {{{
         %%s
         </body>
     <html>
-    '''%(f, c, css)
+    '''%(f, fam, c, css)
     fm = getattr(mi, 'field_metadata', field_metadata)
     fl = dict(get_field_list(fm))
     show_comments = (all_fields or fl.get('comments', True))
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/comments_editor.py b/src/calibre/gui2/comments_editor.py
index 58ff55e95c..8797c84661 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/comments_editor.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/comments_editor.py
@@ -251,8 +251,12 @@ class EditorWidget(QWebView): # {{{
 
         def fset(self, val):
             self.setHtml(val)
-            f = QFontInfo(QApplication.font(self)).pixelSize()
-            style = 'font-size: %dpx;' % (f,)
+            fi = QFontInfo(QApplication.font(self))
+            f  = fi.pixelSize()+1
+            fam = unicode(fi.family()).strip()
+            if not fam:
+                fam = 'sans-serif'
+            style = 'font-size: %fpx; font-family:"%s",sans-serif;' % (f, fam)
 
             # toList() is needed because PyQt on Debian is old/broken
             for body in self.page().mainFrame().documentElement().findAll('body').toList():
