Rare Shakespeare Folio Sold For $4.6 Million July 14, 2006
A rare Shakespeare folio was sold at auction for $4.6 million. The folio, a 1623 volume of Shakespeare's plays, was sold at a London auction to London rare book dealer Simon Finch who was the only bidder.
The seller was Dr. Williams's Library in London, which said it needed money to survive and preserve its research collections.
Five cameras stood on tripods at the back of Sotheby's book room for the sale of the volume, while at least two photographers took up posts nearer the front. For all the publicity, the auctioneer couldn't get the price higher. Sotheby's had valued the folio at as much as 3.5 million pounds, or about $6.1 million, above the record for such an edition.
"It's not a very nice copy," said Peter Grogan, a book dealer with R.A. Gekoski in London. "The title page is not in very good condition, and that's the face that the book shows to the world."
The collection of 36 plays, known as the First Folio, was published after Shakespeare's death in an edition of 750, and probably sold for 20 shillings, said Sotheby's. It includes 18 plays that might otherwise have been lost, experts said. The nearest comparable First Folio sold in New York in 2001 for a hammer price of $5.6 million, said Sotheby's.
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Only about 250 copies of the First Folio survive, and this one still has its mid-17th-century calf binding. There may be only one similar copy left in private hands, said Sotheby's, which holds sales of English literature twice a year.
Ok, who else here thinks that Peter Grogan is just jealous that he didn't get his hands on the Folio? Snipe, snipe, snipe.
