A uncommon 1623 e-book that introduced collectively William Shakespeare’s performs for the primary time offered for a file $9.97 million at public sale on Wednesday, Christie’s in New York stated.
The First Folio containing 36 of Shakespeare’s performs is one in every of solely six identified full copies in personal palms and had carried a pre-sale estimate of $four million to $6 million.
The identification of the customer was not instantly identified.
Wednesday’s public sale worth additionally marked a brand new world public sale file for any printed work of literature, and smashed the earlier excessive of $6.16 million for a Shakespeare First Folio that was set in 2001, Christie’s stated.
“Comedies, Histories and Tragedies” was compiled by associates of the English playwright and poet seven years after his demise. It contains 18 performs that had by no means been printed earlier than and might need been misplaced, together with “Macbeth” and “Julius Caesar.”
The e-book was put up for public sale by Mills Faculty, a personal liberal arts school in Oakland, California.
The First Folio marked the primary time that Shakespeare’s performs had been organized as comedies, tragedies and histories. The e-book’s massive dimension – beforehand reserved for regulation books and works of theology – helped elevate Shakespeare’s standing in future years, Christie’s books consultants stated.
With out the First Folio a few of Shakespeare’s most well-known strains would possible have been misplaced, together with classics like “Buddies, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears,” from “Julius Caesar,” and “If music be the meals of affection, play on,” from “Twelfth Night time.”
Wednesday’s sale was the primary time in almost 20 years full copy of the First Folio had come to public sale.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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