Commercial · Display · Emigre
Dead History
Dead History is a licensed font from Emigre: $75.00, as printed on the foundry or reseller’s page on 2026-09-05. The 3 open-licence families below are suggested in its place, each with the basis for the substitution.
The name above is set in a fallback face. Dead History is a licensed font and there is no file here to show it in; the foundry’s page has the real specimen.
- Designer
- P. Scott Makela
- Released
- 1990
- Styles
- 2
- Classification
- Display
- Price
- $75.00 (Dead History Package; Roman $39.00, Bold $39.00) — as printed, read 2026-09-05
P. Scott Makela’s 1990 hybrid of existing typefaces, made when digital tools were becoming mainstream; completed by Zuzana Licko and in MoMA’s collection since 2011. Roman and bold.
Free alternatives to Dead History
Suggested, not measured
Typecase measures fonts from their outlines. Dead History is not on this machine, so these were chosen by what is known about it — classification, lineage, common use — and each is labelled with that basis. Open one to see its measured character and neighbours.
Quiet luxury, approachable
The Syne webfont did not load here — this is a fallback face, not Syne.
same classification
An experimental display family that mixes idioms in the same spirit.
Quiet luxury, approachable
The Unbounded webfont did not load here — this is a fallback face, not Unbounded.
same classification
A contemporary display sans with unconventional proportions.
Quiet luxury, approachable
The Major Mono Display webfont did not load here — this is a fallback face, not Major Mono Display.
same classification
A display face with deliberately odd letterforms; monospaced.
Own Dead History? Point the app at the file and this list becomes measured: every open family ranked by how close it actually is, with the difference named. The file never leaves your machine.
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