Original copy of Shakespeare's First Folio fetches $2.5 million at auction
A 1623 rare first folio of 36 Shakespeare works that was sold for $2.5 million
An original copy of the First Folio, one of the most important pieces of publication in the history of English literature, has gone under the hammer and sold for more than $2.5 million in New York on Thursday (July 21) to a private collector.
The First Folio is a published collection of legendary English playwright William Shakespeare's plays. It was published seven years after his death in 1623 and is responsible for allowing the world to enjoy Shakespeare's work, as none of the original manuscripts of his plays have survived.
WATCH:The journey of 400-year-old book: Shakespeare’s first folio up for auction
John Heminge and Henry Condell, Shakespeare's partners at the acting company had compiled the book. The duo had worked meticulously to collate the book by cross-referencing from prompt books, working drafts and authorial fair copy; making it as accurate as possible.
They later categorised the book and plays into 'comedies', 'tragedies' and 'histories', allowing the upcoming generations to read Shakespeare's work in a nuanced way. Only 750 copies have been made of the First Folio. However, currently, only less than a third (220) are accounted for.
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Some experts are of the view that eighteen of the plays in the First Folio are not known to have been previously printed, such as 'The Tempest', 'Twelfth Night' and 'Measure for Measure' and more.
If the book was not collated, iconic dialogues such as, "If music be the food of love, play on," from 'Twelfth Night' and, "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears," from Julius Caesar would have been lost forever.
This is not the first time that one of the original copies of the First Folio has been sold. As reported by WION, in 2020, another copy had sold for $9.97 million, smashing the previous high of $6.16 million, set way back in 2001.
Read More:First collection of Shakespeare's plays sold for record $10 million
(With inputs from agencies)
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