What would life be without poetry in general - or Shakespeare in particular? There is something almost magical about a text typed on a real typewriter that using any computer typewriter font can never replicate: each letter is unique, there are random quirks, misalignments, double strikes, and the letters are not all one colour but shades of grey. I had thought of doing Shakespeare sonnets and quotes typed on one of my typewriters, but there is something about the standard typewriter fonts that feels like an anachronism together with the Elizabethan poetry, but when I finally acquired this machine, with a shaded typeface more reminiscent of old letterpress styles, that's when I decided to start making some. Coupled with a scan of a piece of paper from a 160 year old book, it might not look Elizabethan, but it certainly looks like it has the wisdom of age. This particular one is sonnet 116 (CXVI), which reads: Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark, That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wandering bark, Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle's compass come; Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, But bears it out even to the edge of doom. If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved. This is one of Shakespeare's most popular sonnets as it touches both on the subject of love while mentioning marriage, making the perfect wedding present, or valentine for a spouse or betrothed. If you wish to see this on another product, with another background; another poem, text or quote in the same style, or written on another typewriter, please contact me at mail@galleryhakon.com with your requests.