(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

One of the rarest books ever printed will go on display in the UAE on Wednesday, when a £4.5 million (Dh20.8 million) copy of William Shakespeare's First Folio is unveiled at the Abu Dhabi Art fair.

The 401-year-old volume, considered the most important book in English literature, is being shown in the Middle East for the first time, offering regional collectors and institutions a chance to acquire a treasure usually found only in the world's greatest libraries.

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Presented by UK-based rare book dealer Peter Harrington, the First Folio will be exhibited and offered for sale from November 19 to 23 at Manarat Al Saadiyat. Only 233 copies of the First Folio are known to survive worldwide, and just 24 remain in private hands.

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This appearance marks the first time a First Folio has been exhibited in the Middle East.

For regional institutions and private collectors, it represents a rare chance to acquire a cultural treasure held by some of the world's most prestigious libraries, including the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC and the British Library in London. No museum, library, or private collection in the Middle East currently owns one.

“Shakespeare's work transcends time and geography,” said Pom Harrington, owner of Peter Harrington.“It has been credited as shaping and solidifying Shakespeare's influence on the English language. But when you see the excitement the Folio generates wherever it travels – whether to Tasmania or Toronto – you're reminded how extraordinary it is that a 17th-century book printed in England can still inspire wonder, centuries later and worlds away from where it was first printed.”

Compiled seven after Shakespeare's death

Printed in London in 1623 by Isaac Jaggard and Edward Blount, the First Folio was the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays. It preserves 36 works 18 of which might have been lost forever without this single volume. Without the Folio, the world would have no Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, or The Tempest.

The book was compiled seven years after Shakespeare's death by his close friends and fellow actors John Heminges and Henry Condell. Long before Shakespeare became a global icon, the two men undertook what was then a risky publishing venture, buying back printing rights from multiple owners to unify his plays. Their emotional preface urged readers:“Do so, but buy it first.”

It took nearly two years to print, with every page typeset by hand. Because several compositors worked on it, each with their own spelling preferences, no two copies of the Folio are completely identical. Even in the 17th century it was a prestige object, costing up to two months' wages for a skilled worker.

The global reach of Shakespeare's storytelling

The copy coming to Abu Dhabi, known as the Shuckburgh Copy, is considered one of the finest examples in private hands. It is bound in leather by Roger Payne, one of England's most celebrated bookbinders, and is prized for its crisp, unrestored pages and gilt spine.

Its provenance is equally distinguished. The volume once belonged to Sir George Augustus William Shuckburgh-Evelyn (1751–1804), a noted mathematician, astronomer, and Fellow of the Royal Society whose library also included a Gutenberg Bible. The Folio remained with his descendants for generations before resurfacing at auction in 2016.

Peter Harrington said bringing the First Folio to Abu Dhabi underscores the global reach of Shakespeare's storytelling. His theme of love, power, jealousy, ambition have long been reinterpreted by Arab writers, filmmakers, and theatre-makers. Egyptian cinema adapted The Taming of the Shrew in the 1962 film Ah Min Hawwa, while Kuwaiti playwright Sulayman Al-Bassam reimagined Hamlet and Richard III to critique authoritarianism and political corruption. Across the region, Shakespeare remains a lens through which artists examine social and political realities.

The First Folio is credited with introducing more than 1,700 English words and phrases, from“eyeball” and“bedroom” to“green-eyed monster” and“wear your heart on your sleeve.”

With Abu Dhabi Art attracting global collectors, curators, and cultural institutions, the First Folio's presence adds a historic, literary dimension to the fair.

“To have the Folio on display amid a collection of other artistic and cultural icons is a reminder that the love of storytelling is universal,” says Harrington.“For any institution or collector, to own a First Folio is to hold in one's hands the book that gave the world Shakespeare.”

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