diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 8f55ac090..6c0aee747 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -154,6 +154,8 @@ Bugs fixed
 * #2292: Fix some footnotes disappear from LaTeX output
 * #2287: ``sphinx.transforms.Locale`` always uses rst parser. Sphinx i18n feature should
   support parsers that specified source_parsers.
+* #2290: Fix ``sphinx.ext.mathbase`` use of amsfonts may break user choice of math fonts
+* #2324: Print a hint how to increase the recursion limit when it is hit.
 
 
 Release 1.3.5 (released Jan 24, 2016)
diff --git a/sphinx/cmdline.py b/sphinx/cmdline.py
index f5b141e8c..baa797fff 100644
--- a/sphinx/cmdline.py
+++ b/sphinx/cmdline.py
@@ -270,6 +270,14 @@ def main(argv):
                 print(red('The full traceback has been saved in %s, if you want '
                           'to report the issue to the developers.' % tbpath),
                       file=error)
+            elif isinstance(err, RuntimeError) and 'recursion depth' in str(err):
+                print(red('Recursion error:'), file=error)
+                print(terminal_safe(text_type(err)), file=error)
+                print(file=error)
+                print('This can happen with very large or deeply nested source '
+                      'files.  You can carefully increase the default Python '
+                      'recursion limit of 1000 in conf.py with e.g.:', file=error)
+                print('    import sys; sys.setrecursionlimit(1500)', file=error)
             else:
                 print(red('Exception occurred:'), file=error)
                 print(format_exception_cut_frames().rstrip(), file=error)
diff --git a/sphinx/ext/mathbase.py b/sphinx/ext/mathbase.py
index 8ede05b87..bd1e75214 100644
--- a/sphinx/ext/mathbase.py
+++ b/sphinx/ext/mathbase.py
@@ -214,6 +214,11 @@ def number_equations(app, doctree, docname):
         node[0] = nodes.Text(num, num)
 
 
+def setup_amsfont(app):
+    # use amsfonts if users do not configure latex_elements['amsfonts']
+    app.config.latex_elements.setdefault('amsfonts', r'\usepackage{amsfonts}')
+
+
 def setup_math(app, htmlinlinevisitors, htmldisplayvisitors):
     app.add_config_value('math_number_all', False, 'html')
     app.add_node(math, override=True,
@@ -238,4 +243,4 @@ def setup_math(app, htmlinlinevisitors, htmldisplayvisitors):
     app.add_role('eq', eq_role)
     app.add_directive('math', MathDirective)
     app.connect('doctree-resolved', number_equations)
-    app.add_latex_package('amsfonts')
+    app.connect('builder-inited', setup_amsfont)
diff --git a/sphinx/writers/latex.py b/sphinx/writers/latex.py
index e4026d84b..ecca57352 100644
--- a/sphinx/writers/latex.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/latex.py
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ HEADER = r'''%% Generated by Sphinx.
 %(utf8extra)s
 %(cmappkg)s
 %(fontenc)s
+%(amsfonts)s
 %(babel)s
 %(fontpkg)s
 %(fncychap)s
@@ -276,6 +277,7 @@ class LaTeXTranslator(nodes.NodeVisitor):
                             '\\else\\fi'),
         'cmappkg':         '\\usepackage{cmap}',
         'fontenc':         '\\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}',
+        'amsfonts':        '',
         'babel':           '\\usepackage{babel}',
         'fontpkg':         '\\usepackage{times}',
         'fncychap':        '\\usepackage[Bjarne]{fncychap}',