William Shakespeare's second folio realises $30,000 in Pasadena

A second folio printing of Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies (1632) has sold for $30,000 at PBA Galleries in Pasadena.

It features all the plays featured in the first folio, with some additional changes, as well as the first appearance in print of a poem by John Milton, writer of Paradise Lost.

Shakespeare second folio PBA
This edition of Shakespeare's second folio was printed by Robert Allot in 1632

There were five printers licensed to produce the second folio, with this example attributed to Robert Allot, who printed the vast majority of the issues, making this one of the more common examples.

A copy of the much rarer third folio achieved $374,500 at Sotheby's New York in 2012.

Elsewhere at the February 9 auction, a signed halftone photograph of all four members of the Beatles made $16,800.

Beatles signed photo PBA
The Beatles inscribed the image to Liberace

The image dates to the band's first tour of the US in 1964 and features an inscription to the famously flamboyant pianist Liberace that reads: "To Liber-archie best wishes from the Beatles".

It was signed in Las Vegas, where Liberace regularly performed.

We have this set of Beatles autographs for sale.

A second edition copy of Alonso de Molina's Vocabulario en lengua castellana y Mexicana (1571) sold for $14,000.

The book is an early dictionary of Spanish and Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and has remained in print until the present day. 

We have a range of rare books and manuscripts available to purchase.

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