Original copy of Shakespeare's First Folio to go to auction

An original copy of William Shakespeare's First Folio - often referred to as the most important book in English literature - will be auctioned next month in New York.

- Nadia Khomami

The book, which was printed almost 400 years ago, is one of fewer than 20 copies left in private hands and it is estimated that it will fetch up to $2.5m (£2m), according to the auction house Sotheby's.

Curated by Shakespeare's trusted colleagues John Heminges and Henry Condell, the folio comprises 36 plays, half of which had never before been printed.

No contemporary manuscripts of Shakespeare's texts survive and so without the First Folio it is possible that 18 works, including Macbeth, The Tempest and Twelfth Night, might have been lost to history.