Question: Would it be proper to use a [valediction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valediction) ("complimentary close") in a newspaper or magazine message wholly devoted to congratulating the media's readers with the New Year or some other holiday? 

An example message from the staff of a made-up media:

> 
> Dear readers! 
> 
> 
> From the bottom of our hearts we... 
> 
> 
> Yours sincerely, Russian Industrial News' editorial staff.
> 
> 
> 

Or are valedictions more fit for personal communication? 

P.S. In Russia, such congratulatory newspaper messages are ended with a no-frills bottom-positioned line like "Editorial staff of [name of media]." I became curious whether this would work in an English-language media, or should one add something to embellish the ending.

Answer: 
*Would* in both cases indicates a desire or intent, but the Shakespearean instance is more forceful. 

I'm no [hermeneutician](https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/), but the Corinthians verse opens with *θέλω*, which is straightforwardly translated as *I want* or *I wish*. Merriam-Webster lists this use of *would* as archaic, whereas OALD simply calls it "[literary](http://oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/dictionary/would#would__194)":

> 
> **would that…** (literary): used to express a strong wish
> 
> 
> 

References to God (or the devil) intensify. *Would to God [that]* on its own can stand as an old-fashioned interjection, and in such cases the *would* cannot always be directly substituted with *want* or *wish* (*How I hoped she would leave him. Would to God!*).
Yes, they mean the same thing: they express a "wish". If you substitute *wish* for *would*, you will see the construction clearly.

[*would*](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/would) vb.: (one meaning) I wish: *Would* that he were here. 

You can see it in another (slightly) familiar phrase

> 
> Would that I could, but I can't, so I shan't.
> 
> 
> 

This form implies a wishful or idealized alternative to an undesired reality. In other words, the speaker wishes for a different set of circumstances or outcome than the real situation he or she is in, and is called The subjunctive mood. 

The [subjunctive](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_mood) is a grammatical mood found in many languages. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality such as *wish, emotion, possibility, judgment, opinion, necessity, or action that has not yet occurred* – the precise situations in which they are used vary from language to language. 

It is an older form in English, used less frequently today, but seen often enough in early translations of the Bible and other early writings, as well as very formal writing.