California Fonts

Go west, young designer! That's the message of the latest offering from Emigre. The digital type foundry and publisher continues to redefine the concept of a catalog with lushly printed "type specimen booklets" that beckon you to read them cover to cover. The latest one, entitled Historia, looks to the old west by mixing unexpected type combinations with a series of photographs of battlefield sites from the U.S.-Mexican war of 1846-1848 (from the Incident at Gavilán Peak to the Battle of La Mesa). The result is a feast for the eyes, with pages resembling antique bond certificates and California orange crate labels alongside musings on typography, topography, and photography.