Shakespeare’s The Complete Plays edition hand-bound in Yorkshire on sale for £1,000

It’s a far cry from 1623 when the playwright’s First Folio, which brought together 36 comedies, tragedies and histories, was published by two of his friends seven years after his death in Stratford-upon-Avon at the age of 52.

Back then a bound copy cost £1 - enough to pay for 44 loaves of bread; an unbound copy a mere 15 shillings. Fast forward 400 years and the playwright’s work is as in demand as ever.

Amazingly 235 copies of the First Folio - considered one of the most influential books ever - have survived.

In 2020 a “complete” version sold for a record $9.98m (£7.6m) at auction in New York.

Its the level of craftsmanship that goes into the limited edition, which makes it an instant heirloom and worth the price tag, says its publishers The Folio Society.

The 1,000 copies are being printed and hand-bound in Yeadon, near Leeds, by Smith Settle, one of the country’s top book binding companies.

No expense has been spared in its production.

Artist and illustrator Neil Packer’s hand-drawn designs for the book bindings are inspired by 17th Century blackwork embroidery while the stunning silk and linen-woven bindings have been created using Elizabethan weaving technique and woven by Stephen Walters & Sons, the Suffolk-based weavers known for recently creating Queen Camilla’s Coronation robes.

One of York’s most famous daughters, Dame Judi Dench, who played Ophelia in Hamlet at The Old Vic Theatre over 60 years ago, has written a foreword along with and Gregory Doran, Artistic Director Emeritus at the Royal Shakespeare Company,.

Thousands of versions of Shakespeare’s plays have been produced over the years, and there must be hundreds of editions in print now.

Tom Walker, Publishing Director at The Folio Society, said their aim was to create the “best available edition” - “the one that will last down the generations, that they can pass down, and know it will stand the test of time”.

Despite perceptions, buyers are “not always wealthy” and many are in the 25 to 50 age bracket.

He said: “It will go to people who might be collectors, they are literary obsessives.

"With Shakespeare it will be people who go to Shakespeare plays, for whom Shakespeare is essential for their experience of the written word.”

People do read Folio Society editions with gloves on; but the three volumes, which use The Arden Shakespeare edition, are meant to be read: “We have spent so much time to get the setting correct to make it pleasurable to read.

“The page design and page layout is absolutely clear and joyful.

“Most people can’t afford to buy a First Folio - I really do think it’s the next best thing.”

Mr Packer said: “This edition is a celebration and a homage to the 1623 First Folio and although it is in no way a facsimile of that edition, we did want it to look and literally feel like it is a direct successor.

“I was keen to tie the images to the ‘theatre’ rather than ‘real world’ and so I have tried to inject an element of toy theatre into them. You could almost imagine the figures depicted as tiny cardboard cut outs in a miniature theatre.”

Visit: foliosociety.com/shakespeare