Sonnet 18: Unearthing a New "Fair"

My Sonnet 18 project explores beauty as something revealed over time, not a fixed ideal. From metallic floral foundations to asymmetrical "archaeological" glass beads, this cover is a study of internal luminosity. Shakespeare's "fair" isn't about perfection - it's about the light that stays when the summer fades.

Title: Unearthing a New "Fair"
Text by William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18
Illustrated, designed, and hand bound by Suzanne Coley 
Dimensions: 19 x 13.5 x 2 inches
Year: 2020 
Book 14 in Love Sonnets From Shakespeare To Baltimore

"For my Sonnet 18 book, I was drawn to Shakespeare’s repeated use of the word fair, which is a term he summoned three times to describe beauty as shifting, resilient, and ultimately eternal. I wanted the cover to explore fair not as a fixed ideal, but as something gradually revealed and illuminated over time."
Press to READ full essay on my Substack, Coded Threads

You may also like

Soul Check 136, Book 18
2023
Coded Threads: Translating Shakespeare Through Art
2024
Beauty's Rose Lasts Forever, Book Two
2019
The Fragile: Book 23
2023
O'Positive
2016
SMOG
2016
Love Sonnets from Shakespeare to Baltimore, Book Eleven
2021
Community Projects, 2015-2021
2021
Violet, Purple, and the Puzzle of Sonnet 99
2025
Painted Songs, July
2015
↑Back to Top