Rare Shakespeare First Folio found on Scottish island

A nearly 400-year-old copy of a first edition of William Shakespeare's collected plays has been found in a vast aristocratic house onthe Isle of Bute, off the western coast of Scotland.

Published in 1623, the First Folio contains Shakespeare's 36plays, including several that had never been published beforeand might have been lost without it, such as Macbeth, TheTempestand As You Like It.

The discovery at Mount Stuart, grand neo-Gothic home of theMarquesses of Bute, brings the total of known surviving copiesof the First Folio in the world to 234. Most others are inlibraries and accessible only to scholars.

It is usually a single volume that would have to be readsitting at a desk, but the Bute copy was split in the past for
ease of reading into three leather-bound volumes, one each forcomedies, histories and tragedies.

"This is something that you could take to the fireside andenjoy," Emma Smith, a professor of Shakespeare Studies at OxfordUniversity who authenticated the Bute Folio, told the BBC.

"It's a book we most likely now see ... in a glass case, andone of the things that this copy ... shows us is a time when
people just really used this book, they enjoyed it, theyscribbled on it, they spilt their wine on it, their pet catsjumped on it."

The collection's managers were in touch to say they thoughtthey had a Shakespeare First Folio, and I must say I thought "Right, yeah, sure you do" ... Theyturned out to be right.- Emma Smith, Oxford University

Worth an estimated 2 to 2.5 million pounds (about $3.7to $4.6million Cdn) according to Smith, the Folio is not up for sale andwill be on public display at Mount Stuart until October.

It was found in the home's library, which houses acollection of artworks and artifacts acquired by the Stuart
family over the centuries.

"The collection's managers were in touch to say they thoughtthey had a Shakespeare First Folio, and I must say I thoughtright, yeah, sure you do. But on much closer inspection theyturned out to be right," said Smith.

Inside the first page is an inscription from an 18th centuryeditor of Shakespeare called Isaac Reed, describing how he
acquired the book in 1786. The Folio also includes annotationsby Reed that suggest he used it as a working document.

It was authenticated by a variety of methods, includingpainstaking, word-by-word checks to make sure the
well-documented quirks and idiosyncracies of the genuine 1623First Folio were present.

Britain has been holding commemorations this year to markthe 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death on April 23, 1616.