LONDON — A complete set of the first four editions of William Shakespeare’s collected works is heading to auction next month, and it could sell for as much as £4.5 million ($6 million), according to Sotheby’s.
The announcement came on Wednesday — appropriately, the 461st anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. It marks the first time since 1989 that a complete set of the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Folios has been offered at auction as a single lot. The historic sale is scheduled for May 23.
Sotheby’s has estimated the value of the lot between £3.5 million and £4.5 million, underscoring its immense literary and historical significance.
The Book That Saved Shakespeare
After William Shakespeare’s death in 1616, two of his close friends and fellow actors, John Heminges and Henry Condell, compiled his plays into what became known as the First Folio. Published in 1623, the full title of the book was Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories & Tragedies. It included 36 plays — 18 of which had never been published before.
Among the works that may have been lost forever without the First Folio: Macbeth, The Tempest, and Twelfth Night. Sotheby’s called the publication “without question the most significant publication in the history of English literature.”
Only about 750 copies of the First Folio were originally printed. Today, only around 230 are known to survive, with the vast majority housed in museums, universities, and libraries. One of the few privately owned First Folios sold for $9.9 million in 2020.
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The Legacy of the Folios
The success of the First Folio spurred the publication of three more editions: the Second Folio in 1632, the Third in 1663, and the Fourth in 1685. Each contributed in different ways to the preservation and evolution of Shakespeare’s work.
While the First Folio remains the most valuable, the Third Folio is considered the rarest, with only 182 known surviving copies. The rarity is partly attributed to the Great Fire of London in 1666, which is believed to have destroyed much of the original stock.
Interestingly, the Third Folio included seven additional plays, but only Pericles, Prince of Tyre is widely accepted as part of Shakespeare’s true canon.
