Day: April 10, 2024

The First Folio, published in 1623, is a highly prized literary treasure that preserved the complete texts of 18 of Shakespeare's plays. Two wealthy American collectors, Alexander Smith Cochrane and Henry Clay Folger, emerged as the foremost hunters of the First Folio in the early 20th century, amassing impressive collections that now reside at Yale University and the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C. The First Folio's value continues to escalate, with a copy selling for nearly $10 million at auction in 2020, as new copies are still being discovered in private holdings.