London (AP) – A set of the first four editions of William Shakespeare’s works are expected to be sold for up to 4.5 million pounds ($ 6 million) in an auction next month.
Sotheby’s Aust House announced the sale on Wednesday, Shakespeare’s 461 birthday. He said that the sale of May 23 will be the first time since 1989 that a first, second, third and fourth folk set has been offered in an auction as a single lot.
The auction house estimated the sale price between 3.5 million and 4.5 million pounds.
After Shakespeare’s death in 1616, his friends John Heminges and Henry Condell, actors and shareholders in the Dramaturgian company, the King’s men, the king’s men.
The first folio, totally titled “Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, History & Tragedies”, contained 36 plays, or how half were published there for the first time. Without the book, academics say, they include “Macbeth”, “The Tempest” and “Twelfth night” could have lost themselves. Sotheby’s described the volume “undoubtedly the most significant publication in the history of English literature.”
This photo issued by Sotheby’s on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 shows the first folio or William Shakespeare, which contains 36 of Shakespeare’s works, and is “the most significant publication in the history of English literature.” It is one of the four folios that will be exhibited in Sotheby’s in London on May 23, where they are expected to obtain between £ 3.5 million and £ 4.5 million. (Sotheby’s through AP)
Around 750 copies were printed in 1623, or that it is known that around 230 survive. All but some are in museums, universities or libraries. One of the first folios in private hands was sold for $ 9.9 million in an auction in 2020.
The first folio proved to be successful enough for an updated edition, the second folio, to be published in 1632, a third in 1663 and a quarter in 1685.
Althegh, the first folio, is considered the most valuable, the third is the weirdest, with 182 copies known for surviving. It is believed that the rarity of the third book is due to the fact that part of the stock was destroyed in the great London fire in 1666.
The third folio included seven additional plays, but only one, “Pericles, Prince of Tire”, believes Shakespeare.