Shakespeare's First Folio Sold...

You may have heard that a rare first folio containing 36 of Shakespeare's plays, including first publishings of Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and 16 other works, was sold at Sotheby's for £2.8 million or $5.2 million on July 13, 2006. Amazing! According to the auction house, it was purchased by an anonymous London book dealer.

Published in 1623 -- seven years after Shakespeare passed away -- the First Folio is in truth priceless. To be sold for a record amount isn't surprising, but to place a price on the book at all seems almost impossible. Imagine if these works were lost forever? I can't imagine not knowing Viola or Macbeth or any of the other incredibly vivid characters Shakespeare created.

Still in its 17th-century binding, the book was sold as part of Sotheby's sale of English Literature and History. It also includes "extensive markings and annotations", which offers further insight into the time, the period, the Bard. I can't imagine possessing such a treasure.