Shakespeare for $10,000,000, Please!

There might be some authors today who are worth more than 10 million dollars, but I bet none of them could sell a single book for that price.

*****

A complete and original copy of Shakespeare’s very first printed collection of plays set a record Wednesday when it was auctioned off at just under $10 million. This was the first time in almost two decades a copy had hit the market.

Referred to as the First Folio, the collection was published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare’s death.

“A complete copy of the First Folio comes up more or less once in a generation,” said Margaret Ford, the International Head of Books and Manuscripts at Christie’s. The auction house took bids in New York City, and said the sale establishes a world auction record for any printed work of literature.

Read more at Shakespeare’s Original First Folio Sells For Almost $10 Million.

*****

Even if I could afford a book like an original Shakespeare folio, I’m not sure I’d want it. I’d be paranoid that something would happen to it while in my possession.

When I sold a bunch of old, expensive comic books a couple years ago, I was almost relieved to get rid of them. I couldn’t enjoy reading them anymore because I didn’t want to accidentally rip a page or tear the paper and devalue them.

If I didn’t want to read my Silver Age comic books, just think how nervous this auction winner is when he’s reading an original Shakespeare Folio. Every time he touches it, the value could drop by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Poor Shakespeare auction guy. He just bought a book that he can’t/shouldn’t really touch.

*****

Enough about me! What do you think? Would you even try touching such an expensive book? What old books would you like to own?