Shakespeare’s First Folio on sale at Bonhams

CAIRO – 22 June 2022: Bonhams Auctions in London is offering the first edition of the works of prominent English playwright William Shakespeare for sale, with an estimated price between £30,000 and £50,000.

The First Folio is the first collected version of William Shakespeare's plays, compiled and published in 1623, 7 years after his death. Folio editions were large, expensive books and were seen as prestigious items.

It is known that William Shakespeare wrote about 37 plays, 36 of which are included in the First Folio. Most of these plays were staged at The Globe, an open-air theater in London built on the south bank of the River Thames in 1599. Since none of Shakespeare's original manuscripts survived, we know his work only from printed editions.

The First Folio is very important because out of the 36 plays in it, only 17 have been printed in different editions between good and bad quality in Shakespeare's life. One was printed posthumously and 18 were never printed.

With this First Folio, Martin Droeshout engraved a picture of Shakespeare on the title page. Droeshout would only have been 15 years old when Shakespeare died, and it is unlikely that they had actually met.

Alternatively, Shakespeare's image might have been taken from other people's memory, or from a previous image. However, writer Ben Jonson has settled this controversial case by stating the sculptor has created such a good drawing of Shakespeare's face.