Original part of Shakespeare’s play “Henry the Fourth” to be auctioned at Holabird Western Americana on October 28

CAIRO – 26 October 2021: An original part of a Shakespeare play is being auctioned by the Holabird Western Americana for $100,000 on October 28.

The first part of “Henry the Fourth” play will be shown in Nevada, USA. It is a part taken from the first file of Shakespeare’s plays, dating back to 1623.

"Henry the Fourth" play by Shakespeare I - Social media

The first file of Shakespeare's plays has been widely cited by many British historians, collectors, and scholars, as the most important literary work in the English language.

In September, Professor and Chair of the Department of English and Philosophy at the University of Nevada Eric Rasmussen -a world-renowned scholar and one of the preeminent experts on Shakespeare's early papers, reviewed the portion that was to be auctioned and certified it as an original 1623 piece, according to the French actualite.

The copy was valued at between $50,000 and $100,000 (from €43,000 to €86,000) by Holabird Western Americana Collections, an estimate that seems very low considering that last year a similar copy was auctioned for $9.978 million (€8.593 million), setting a new world record for a literary work as the buyer was rare book collector Stefan Lowenthel, who said at the time: "The first edition is one of the most important group of plays published in the world."

“Henry the Fourth,” the second of Shakespeare's theatrical quartet of successors to Richard II of England, was hugely popular with both audiences and critics.

According to the specialists, there are only a few small chips and tears around the edges of some of the rare edition's inner paper pages. The papers change color to varying degrees from page to page, due to the 400-year age of the paper.

“The opportunity to own a part of the most important literary work in existence is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Fred Holabird, president of the auction house.