Shakespeare's collected works hit auction block with $6 million estimate
William Shakespeare's First Folio was published in 1623 and includes "Hamlet" and "Macbeth." (Credit: Getty Images)
For the first time since 1989, all four of William Shakespeare's Folios will be offered at auction in a single lot.
Sotheby's plans to sell the first four editions of William Shakespeare's collected works next month, carrying a high estimate of around $6 million, the auction house announced Wednesday, which would have been Shakespeare's 461st birthday.
Advertisement
The First Folio, published in 1623 after Shakespeare's death, is among the most significant books ever produced, containing 36 of Shakespeare's plays, including 'Macbeth,' 'Hamlet,' 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream.'
Around 750 copies of the First Folio were printed, with around 230 believed to survive today, according to Folio400, a publication celebrating the work's 400th anniversary in 2023.
Of those 235, most are in public institutions such as the British Library and New York Public Library. Very few copies described as 'complete,' with all of its original leaves present, remain extant, with one selling for nearly $10 million in 2020.
The three Folios that followed are updated editions of the First Folio, containing revised language and clarifications.
Advertisement
Due to the Great Fire of London, the Third Folio is actually the rarest of the bunch, with an estimated 182 surviving today, according to the Shakespeare Census.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
43 minutes ago
- New York Post
‘Basketball Wives' star announces divorce from rapper Kevin Gates after 52 days of marriage
That was fast. 'Basketball Wives' star Brittany Renner announced Saturday that she got divorced from rapper Kevin Gates after 52 days of marriage. 'We got married April 6 and divorced May 28,' Renner, 33, said on the Los Angeles radio station REAL 92.3 LA. Advertisement 6 Brittany Renner and Kevin Gates attend a Los Angeles Lakers game on April 22, 2025. Getty Images The influencer explained, 'There is a 90 day waiting period in Islam, where you have 90 days to see if you're pregnant because then he would be responsible. But also in those 90 days, it's for recommendation because the law wants you to stay married. And during those 90 days, you are not to entertain anybody romantically.' 'So, what I will say is Islam has made my life easier,' Renner continued. 'Honestly, I don't think anybody gets married to not stay married. So this is a nice 90 day reset, just focusing on myself.' Advertisement 6 Kevin Gates and Brittany Renner at the 'Basketball Wives LA' Season 12 premiere party on May 2. Getty Images for VH1 Renner added that she 'followed my heart' and has 'no shame' in her romance with Gates, 39. 'A lot of people, their issue is, even just in dating, in marriage, it's people just don't give it their all,' she shared. 'They don't just go for it. But I feel like when you do, you're at peace with whatever happens because I gave 100 percent.' 6 Kevin Gates performs at day 3 of House of BET in June 2023. Getty Images for BET Advertisement 'I don't feel like it's a sucky situation because what is meant to be is always going to be,' Renner also said. Renner just gushed about Gates in an interview with PEOPLE on May 4. 6 Brittany Renner at the Tyler Perry's Divorced Sistas' premiere in Los Angeles on June 6, 2025. Getty Images for BET+ 'All I can say is, is that I'm with the person that I quite literally dreamed of,' the reality star said at the 'Basketball Wives' Season 12 premiere party, where she was joined by Gates. Advertisement 'And to be able to just wake up next to him and spend time with him, even to have him here behind me, it's like so surreal,' she continued. 'He's just the most beautiful person inside and out that I've ever met.' 6 Jason Lee, Kevin Gates and Brittany Renner attend the Basketball Wives LA Season 12 premiere party. Getty Images for VH1 Gates also said the couple was focused on staying in the 'present,' adding, 'I feel like when we get too far ahead, we don't live in the now and have fun in the now and pour in each other into each other in the now.' 'So the future? It's no concern of mine,' she stated. 6 Brittany Renner speaks onstage during the 'Basketball Wives LA' Season 12 premiere party. Getty Images for VH1 Renner is the ex-girlfriend of Dallas Mavericks power forward P.J. Washington, with whom she shares a 4-year-old son. The reality star joined the cast of 'Basketball Wives' for Season 11 in 2023.
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Ron Howard's daughter reveals shocking details about ‘messed up' childhood
Bryce Dallas Howard knows she didn't have a normal childhood. The 'Jurassic World' actress 44, recalled the unusual interests she had while growing up as filmmaker Ron Howard's daughter. 'I was such a messed up kid – I would walk around the Disney lot reading about euthanasia,' Bryce said in an interview with The Independent published Saturday. 8 Bryce Dallas Howard and Ron Howard at the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party. WireImage 'But I also wasn't dark,' she added. 'There was just a sort of intensity to my feelings and the stories I was curious about.' Bryce also revealed that she 'had a lot of difficulties learning and communicating' as a kid. 8 Throwback picture of Ron Howard, Cheryl Howard and Bryce Dallas Howard. realronhoward/Instagram 8 Ron Howard and Bryce Dallas Howard in an Instagram photo. brycedhoward/Instagram 'I was always very happy and smiley, but not extremely verbal,' she explained. 'It was unclear what intelligence was there, and how much I was really processing.' Bryce shared that her dad Ron, 71, and mom Cheryl took her to a psychologist, who later told the couple about the meetings. 'Can we talk about the dead babies? Because Bryce talks a lot about dead babies,' Bryce recalled the therapist saying, before the star laughed. 8 Ron Howard and Cheryl Howard with daughter Bryce Dallas Howard at a wedding in 1982. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images The 'Rocketman' actress also told the outlet that she grew up on her dad's film sets, but was always told to avoid the actors to not disturb them. So, she spent time with the camera department, the first assistant directors and the sound guys and learned about the movie-making process. Bryce said that it wasn't until her high school years that she entertained the idea of becoming an actor. 8 Bryce Dallas Howard, Ron Howard and Cheryl Howard at the DGA Honors Gala 2015. WireImage 8 Bryce Dallas Howard with her dad Ron Howard in 2014. Getty Images for Canon Despite her current fame, Bryce admitted that she 'hardly ever gets recognized to this day.' 'I live a totally normal life – partly because I'm a shut-in and don't leave the house that much, but I've also just been incredibly lucky,' the 'Mandalorian' director stated. 'I was never followed around by photographers.' In a separate interview with The Times UK, Bryce didn't push back on the nepo baby title. 8 Bryce Dallas Howard at the 'Deep Cover' premiere at SXSW London 2025. Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/WireImage 'I happen to be in a situation where there are multiple layers of privilege,' she told the outlet, noting that her dad is the son of Hollywood stars Rance Howard and Jean Speegle Howard. 'So I got to have access in a way that, even if you were born into it, most people wouldn't,' she noted. 8 Bryce Dallas Howard and Ron Howard at the BAFTA Awards in London in 2017. Getty Images Bryce continued, 'At the beginning of my career people would ask — and I was always so shocked by this — 'Do you feel it's been a disadvantage?' And I was like, 'Disadvantage?'' 'When you're an actor, you need to capture a casting director or director's attention,' she said, 'but when you're someone who's related to someone else, there's an inherent curiosity there.'
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Mia Farrow recalls abruptly leaving ‘strange' Joan Crawford's apartment: ‘I was scared'
Mia Farrow was not a fan of Joan Crawford. In a new Interview magazine piece, Farrow, 80, spoke to fellow Broadway star Cole Escola about Crawford, calling the 'Our Dancing Daughters' actress 'scary.' 'And she was scary in person as well,' Farrow added. 8 Mia Farrow attends the 78th Annual Tony Awards Meet The Nominees Press Event on May 8, 2025. Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions 8 Joan Crawford in 1944. Getty Images The 'Alice' star recalled that she interacted with Crawford as a teenager while filming 'Peyton Place' on the Fox lot in California. At the time, Crawford — who was almost 40 years older than Farrow — was married to Pepsi-Cola president Alfred Steele. 'For whatever reason, she started sending a whole refrigerator of Pepsi Cola for my trailer 'cause I was in a TV series called 'Peyton Place,'' Farrow explained. 'I don't particularly like Pepsi Cola, but a lot of Pepsi Cola kept coming to my trailer, more than anyone would ever want. And then she came over to see me and I got a strange vibe from her.' 8 Dorothy Malone and Mia Farrow on 'Peyton Place.' Bettmann Archive 8 Johnny Mack Brown and Joan Crawford in 'Our Dancing Daughters' in 1928. Getty Images Farrow described another weird moment with Crawford at her mother Maureen O'Sullivan's house in New York. 'So I'm back in New York, and she knew my mother. I hung up people's coats for my mom when they came into the house,' Farrow shared. 'And I hung her coat and out falls a flask of alcohol. She grabbed it like that, and she put it in her handbag. She drank quite a lot.' 8 Joan Crawford in a promotional still from 'The Best Of Everything' in 1959. Getty Images Additionally, Farrow recalled that she was 17 she had an unpleasant experience at Crawford's NYC apartment. 'I thought it was a party, but I arrived, and I was the only one there,' Farrow said, adding, 'I was 17, and everything was green in her apartment. It just had very low lighting.' 8 Mia Farrow at the 2025 Drama League Awards in New York City. Bruce Glikas/WireImage 'And there were no other guests, just Ms. Crawford and me,' Farrow continued. 'And I just wasn't very comfortable. So I just made up a lie that I wasn't feeling very well and I didn't want to give her any diseases. I think I said the word 'diseases' as I walked out of the room. I was scared of Ms. Crawford.' Crawford died in May 1977. The legendary actress had an infamous feud with her 'What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?' co-star Bette Davis. 8 Joan Crawford in 1936. NBCUniversal via Getty Images Farrow, meanwhile, was close friends with Davis, who died in 1989 at age 81. 8 Bette Davis in 1968. Getty Images In the Interview magazine story, Farrow slammed Davis' daughter B.D. Hyman's 1985 memoir, 'My Mother's Keeper,' and called it 'a trashy book.' 'B.D. betrayed her mother in a horrible way, wrote a trashy book and stuff,' said Farrow. 'So we've known each other since childhood but I lost all respect for her. I really loved her mother, by the way.'
