To buy or not to buy? 300-year-old Shakespeare books to be auctioned for up to £4.5m

Independent

23-04-2025

A collection of William Shakespeare books published over 300 years ago are set to go on auction where they are expected to fetch between £3.5 and £4.5 million.
The four folios are believed to have been owned by two of Shakespeare's own friends, making them highly precious and valuable items.
The books, which compile Shakespeare's plays, will go on sale at Sotheby's in London on 23 May, a month after the Bard's birthday on 23 April.
Experts say the first folio, which contains 36 of Shakespeare's plays, is 'the most significant publication in the history of English literature ', adding that without it up to half of the writer's plays would have been lost, including Macbeth, Twelfth Night and Julius Caesar.
Alongside the King James Bible, the auctioneers say the book has had 'the greatest impact on the development of the English language itself'.
The first book's initial print run is thought to have been around 750 copies, which prompted the release of the subsequent volumes to keep up with demand, with the books published between 1623 and 1685.
It is thought that the first 750 books would have cost almost £100 to make, due to the price of the 227 sheets of crown paper in each.
The folios were put together by John Heminges and Henry Condell, who were close friends of Shakespeare as actors and shareholders in the King's Men, the acting company to which Shakespeare belonged for most of his career.
Shakespeare even left the pair money for a mourning ring in his will.
The earliest recorded purchase of the first folio was in December 1623, when Edward Dering bought two copies for £2.
The third folio is the rarest of the books, with the Shakespeare Census listing 182 copies still in existence, just over half of the number of surviving second and the fourth folios.
It is believed the third book's rarity is because a proportion of stock was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
Born in 1564, Shakespeare is considered one of the UK's greatest writers, with his best known plays including Romeo And Juliet, Macbeth and Hamlet. He died on his birthday in 1616 at the age of 52.