Peter Selley Quotations

Relatively complete copies of the Folio in contemporary or near contemporary bindings very rarely come to the market. This sale will be a truly exceptional event.

William Shakespeare has had an impact on the artistic imagination, on language, literature and all the performing arts, more profound and more widespread than any other writer who has ever lived.

This sale will be a truly exceptional event. With the exception of the great spiritual leaders, his influence on Western culture is more profound than any individual who has lived.

Without this edition, eighteen of Shakespeare's plays including some of his most famous like Macbeth, The Tempest and other plays would have been lost for all time. It's the only surviving source for eighteen of Shakespeare's plays. With regard to this particular copy of the first folio, it's remarkable because it's preserved in it's original seventeenth century binding. There's no other copy in the world in private hands preserved in a seventeenth century binding complete with all it's text leaves.

This book has been called indisputably the most important book in English literature and the most important secular book of all time.

The First Folio preserves 18 of his plays, which otherwise would have been lost for all time. Relatively complete copies of the Folio in contemporary or near contemporary bindings very rarely come to the market.

The First Folio preserves 18 of his plays, including some of the most major, which otherwise would have been lost for all time.