diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/texmanager.py b/lib/matplotlib/texmanager.py
index 078e1437e3ac..8464adaaf672 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/texmanager.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/texmanager.py
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ def __init__(self):
         ff = rcParams['font.family']
         if len(ff) == 1 and ff[0].lower() in self.font_families:
             self.font_family = ff[0].lower()
-        elif ff.lower() in self.font_families:
+        elif isinstance(ff, basestring) and ff.lower() in self.font_families:
             self.font_family = ff.lower()
         else:
             mpl.verbose.report(