An original copy of William Shakespeare’s first collected book of plays has been sold for more than £2m at Sotheby’s auction house in New York.
The First Folio, often referred to as one of the most important books in English literature, was auctioned on Thursday night and bought by a private collector.
The edition is more than 400 years old and contains a collection of 36 plays. Only 750 copies of the book were printed, of which only about 220 are known to survive.
Without the First Folio, it is possible that 18 of Shakespeare’s best-known works, including Macbeth, The Tempest, Julius Caesar and Twelfth Night, would have been lost as no contemporary manuscripts of Shakespeare’s plays survive.
Shakespeare’s partners in the acting company John Heminge and Henry Condell edited the book, which was published in 1623, seven years after the playwright’s death.
Last sold in 1996, the plays belonged to an “important private collector”. The book was originally owned by the Gordon family, with the name featuring throughout the texts.
The First Folio was intended to preserve the plays and correct “bad quartos” – pirated editions thought to be based on flawed constructions from memories. Heminge and Condell curated the texts by cross-referencing prompt books, authorial fair copy, and working drafts to ensure it was as accurate as possible.
The pair’s categorisation of the plays into “comedies”, “tragedies” and “histories” continues to shape modern readings of plays today.
This particular book has passed through the hands of the British political activist and historian R W Seton-Watson and was later bought by Abel E Berland, a real estate executive and bibliophile from Chicago. It contains various annotations, doodles, and markings from its owners over the centuries.
It is thought that the text auctioned on Thursday is one of just 20 remaining in private ownership. The British Library houses five copies, with the rest displayed in museums and libraries across the world.
• This article was amended on 24 July 2022 to remove descriptions of the book as a manuscript.
