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Font Mesa [Michael Hagemann]

Michael Hagemann's creations have a 1850-1920 style or at evoke the Wild West. Font Mesa was located in Naperville, IL, but is now based in Las Vegas, NV.

Free fonts include Cactus Sandwich (Mexican simulation face), Timepiece (originally called Tax Cut), Timepiece 3D, Magic School One and Two (2004, two Harry Potter typefaces), Wild Ride, Corleone (2001: see also here), Corleone Due (2001), MightyRapids (2001: discontinued) and the Ferrari logo font FerroRosso (2002).

Michael Hagemann's commercial fonts by year of production:

• 2001: La Mesa (2001), Maverick's Luck (2001), Desperado (2001), Rio Mesa, Maverick's Luck (based on a bank document from 1876), La Macchina (2001, Lamborghini car lettering)
• 2002: Brewmaster Modern (lettering of Budweiser Racing), Saddlery and Saddlery Post (Western-style caps: a revival of Minaret by Ihlenberg in 1868; Solo calls it Trocadero), FerroRosso (lettering as in the Ferrari logo), Stampede (a family based on lettering used in document from the Chicago, Indiana&Eastern Railway Co. in 1902), Main Event (a Tuscan font, based on Tuscan Ornate, or Bracelet, fonts that date from before 1860; originally called Main Strike in 2003), Red Dog Saloon, Rough Riders (great Western-style caps), Draft Beer.
• 2003: OK Corral (revival of Caslon and Catherwood's Italian from 1821), OK Corral Lined (same as OK Corral with layers; called Italianate Barnum by Dan Solo), Gold Standard (a Tuscan font based on a few letters found on an old Gold Certificate from 1882), Rodeo Clown (based on Carnival), Taqueria, Cove.
• 2004: Bronc Stomper, Open Range, Saloon Girl (a spurred version, Tex Mex, appeared in 2021), Gillé Classic an exquisitily detailed family based on work by Joseph Gillé, 1820's, and implemented elsewhere under the names Circus, Roma and Madame; this was originally called Home Style; some say that the original goes back to Silvestre and not to Gillé; because of this, finally renamed Maison Luxe in 2017; the condensed versions, released in 2021, are Mi Casa and Mariachi), Miss Scarlett (Gone with the Wind poster lettering), Open Range, High Noon, Draft Beer Classic (2002-2005, connected 50s script), High Country, American West, West Wind, AmericanPop (Coca-Cola font).
• 2005: Buckhorn (a Tuscan style Western or circus font; renamed Circus Wagon in 2020), Rodeo Roundup (rope font; Solo called it Rope Initials), Algerian Mesa (32 fonts; extended to the gigantic font family Tavern in 2017, with further development in 2020 in Bay Tavern and Bayside Tavern; the original Algerian goes back to Stephenson and Blake), Conestoga (circus font), Rough Riders (a nice Western font based on the logo of the Beach Creek Railroad Company in the 1860s), Rough Riders Redux, Mesa Pointe (pointing hands, from 19th century sources), Black Pearl (an ornamental blackletter typeface based on an original from ca. 1860; it has two beautiful manicules; some say it is based on an 1860 font called Rimmed Black by West, published by Farmer&Little), Saloonkeeper (inspired by the Leinenkugels brewing label), Wanderer (inspired by the title logo of the TV show The Wild West), Lynchburg (inspired by the Jack Daniels Green Label Whiskey logo).
• 2006: Flatrock (a revival of Inverted Shaded by Julius Herriet, done at Conner in 1886; Solo calls it Big Cat; in 2020, Flat Rock was renamed Big Cat by Hagemann), Livery Stable (revival of GlypticShaded by Ihlenburg at MS&J, 1878. See also Glyptic and Glyptic No.2, 1878), Happy Holly Day, Main Street (a Tuscan typeface that revives Soutache by Julius Herriet and Bruce, 1873).
• 2007: Birdcage (2007, after a lettering sample in Rob Roy Kelly's American Wood Type book), Lonestar, Lonestar Western, Railhead (2007: 4 styles, a revival of an 1870s type style that was originally available from both Bruce's New York and James Conner's&Sons type foundries called English Two-Line Ornamented No.4; an earlier version was English, done in 1853 by Caslon, Austin, Woods and Sharwoods; and before that, the typeface was created by a German designer in 1849), Flying Dutchman (2007, a revival of a MacKellar, Smiths&Jordan Co Kanzlei-style font from 1876), and Western Sky (2007, a revival of a late 1800s Italian font known as Italian Slab Fancy or Dodge City: it is Italic Ornate from Smith, 1874, MS&J). Country Western (2007, 11 styles; plus versions called Country Western Script and Country Western Swing) is a revival of the classic William Page font known as Clarendon Ornamented originally designed in 1859 and again in 1877 by Vanderburgh&Wells. Abbiente (2007) is his first foray into the world of Bodoni and Didot. Buffalo Bill (2007) is a beautiful Western style font that revives a classic from James Conner's foundry from 1888 [Solo also calls it Buffalo Bill].
• 2008: Gold Rush and Gold Spur (2008) are further Wild West style families, based on typos from the Bruce Foundry, 1865. Silverland (2008, 8 styles; a revival of Ornamented No. 1490 by Ihlenberg, 1874, Bruce) and Belgian (2008, 5 styles; a revival of Ornamented No. 1515 by Julius Herriet, 1861, Bruce) are further revivals of typefaces from the Bruce Foundry.
• 2009: Spanish Main (revival of an old MacKellar Smiths&Jordan blackletter font named Sloping Black, 1896; others mention Witham and MS&J and give the date 1869), Spanish Rose, Black Rose (spiky blackletter based on BlackOrnamented No. 532, Ihlenberg, 1873, Bruce), Bella Rose (2009, blackletter), Broadgauge Ornate (revival of an 1869 Western poster typeface by Ihlenberg at MacKellar Smiths&Jordan). Apple Pie (2009) is some sort of Bodoni Ornate---it revives and extends a William Hagar Type Foundry face, ca. 1850 [MS&J added a lowercase in 1869]. This was followed immediately by Bodoni Ornamental. Hickory (2009) is an ornamental Western face, a revival of an old unnamed font dating back to 1852 and was sold through a few different type foundries including Bruce, MacKellar Smiths&Jordan and James Conner's Sons.
• 2010: Gunsmoke is a Far West font, a revival of a James Conner's Sons font that has been around the block under different names such as Extended Clarendon Shaded, Original Ornamented and Galena [Solo called it Galena]. Night Train is another Far West font.
• 2011: Gold is a multi-style slab serif font family based on the classic Gold Rush (1865, Bruce), with the shadows removed. Images: Gold Black, Gold Thin.
• Undated: Cowboy Serenade (based on Phidian by Ihlenberg, 1870, MS&J; Solo's names: Eureka, Shaded Phidian), Gold Fever (based on Caxtonian, 1878, MS&J), Old Thunder (based on a Tuscan typeface from the 1800s).
• 2013: Great Western, Cowboy Western, Cowboy Rodeo.
• 2014: Magnum Sans.
• 2015: Grillmaster (a basic sans family consisting of 128 fonts).
• 2016: Pitmaster.
• 2017: Ribfest (a Tuscan circus font), Texicali, Alta Mesa (Wild West wood type).
• 2019: Marlin Geo, a large sans typeface family---a modern geometric take on Helvetica. Michael writes on Creative Market: You may have noticed a new FontMesa font released on June 17th called Geovetica, Monotype has asked me to rename the font because it's too close to their best selling product. Marlin is the new name choice for our new font with the geometric version [Marlin Geo] being released first. Marlin Geo has many opentype features and comes with italics (at a 12 degree angle) and a slanted version (at a 6 degree angle). See also Marlin Soft (2019).
• Fried Chicken (2020). A 32-style slab serif family intended for supermarket or food product advertizing.
• Philadelphian (2020). A Western or billboard font family based on a MacKellar, Smiths & Jordan font from 1867 by the same name.
• Taco (2020). A multistyle Mexican party font.
• Tortilla (2021). A 24-style Tuscan typeface, a flat-sided version of Fontmesa's Saloon Girl and Tex Mex font families.
• Marzano (2021-2022). A 30-style blend of Futura, Helvetica and his own Marlin.

Klingspor link. Fontspace link. Dafont link. Creative Market link. MyFonts page. View Michael Hagemann's typefaces. Abstract Fonts link,

EXTERNAL LINKS
Font Mesa
 [Buy fonts]
 [Designer info]
Fontspring link [Buy fonts]
Monotype link
Monotype foundry link
Dafont page
Fontspace page
Creative Market page
Klingspor Museum page
MyFonts search
Monotype search
Fontspring search
Google search

INTERNAL LINKS
Sites with only a few free fonts ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Type designers ⦿ Commercial fonts (small outfits) ⦿ Western fonts ⦿ Ornamental caps typefaces ⦿ Movie fonts ⦿ Rope Fonts ⦿ Dingbats (original) ⦿ Blackletter fonts ⦿ Fists, pointing hands ⦿ Type scene in Illinois ⦿ 3D fonts ⦿ Mexican simulation typefaces ⦿ Modern style [Bodoni, Didot, Walbaum, Thorowgood, Computer Modern, etc.] ⦿ Rope Fonts ⦿ Caslon ⦿ Caxton ⦿ Clarendon ⦿ Wood Type ⦿ Circus fonts ⦿ Type scene in Nevada ⦿ Tuscan fonts ⦿