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The First Folio containing 36 of Shakespeare's
plays, one of only six known complete copies in private hands,
was bought by American private collector Stephan Loewentheil,
founder of the 19th Century Rare Book and Photograph Shop on the
U.S. east coast.
Wednesday's auction price also marked a new world auction record
for any printed work of literature, and smashed the previous
high of $6.16 million for a Shakespeare First Folio that was set
in 2001, auction company Christie's said.
"Comedies, Histories and Tragedies" was compiled by friends of
the English playwright seven years after his death. It includes
18 plays that had never been published before and might have
been lost, including "Macbeth" and "Julius Caesar."
"It is an honor to purchase one of only a handful of complete
copies of this epochal volume. It will ultimately serve as a
centerpiece of a great collection of intellectual achievements
of man," Loewentheil said in a statement.
The First Folio marked the first time that Shakespeare's plays
had been organized as comedies, tragedies and histories. The
book's large size - previously reserved for law books and works
of theology - helped raise Shakespeare's status in future years,
Christie's books experts said.
Without the First Folio some of Shakespeare's most famous lines
would likely have been lost, including classics like "Friends,
Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears," from "Julius Caesar,"
and "If music be the food of love, play on," from "Twelfth
Night."
Wednesday's sale was the first time in nearly 20 years that a
complete copy of the First Folio had come to auction. It was put
up for auction by Mills College, a private liberal arts college
in Oakland, California.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew
Lewis and Aurora Ellis)
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