There’s not much news of Shakespeare anymore, but, given the man died in 1616, it’s astonishing there’s any news about him at all. The latest news of The Bard isn’t “new” news, but it’s still pretty remarkable: a copy of Shakespeare’s Fist Folio — the first ever collection of Shakespeare’s plays —was found on a Scottish island.
There are only roughly 230 known copies of the First Folio, and in 2003 Oxford University sold a copy for nearly $4 million. The BBC reports that this goat-skin bound copy, which was found in a “stately home” on the island, has been verified by the appropriate people. It will be displayed there for the foreseeable future. It will also probably be the target of a great Nic Cage heist movie, should any ambitious screenwriters be reading this news right now.
The importance of the First Folio is difficult to overstate. It wasn’t originally published until several years after Shakespeare’s death, but it’s responsible for disseminating his plays to a broader public.