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The folio will be put up for auction during Sotheby's sale of English Literature and History in London on July 13.

Estimated to fetch HK$35 to 49 million, this volume, published seven years after Shakespeare's death, contains a total of 36 plays, 18 of which had never previously been printed, according to Sotheby's English Literature Specialist and Senior Director, Peter Selley. "Were it not for their appearance in this volume, they might otherwise have been lost to posterity."

Some 750 copies of the folio were printed and only a third of these survive, mostly incomplete, Selley said. This folio is remarkably untouched and bound in a classic mid-17th century style in plain brown calf leather, and contains extensive markings and annotations.

Such copies very rarely come onto the market and there is only one copy on record as remaining in private hands, Selley said, adding that it is one of the two finest copies to appear at an auction in London since the Second World War, comparable only to the Houghton copy sold in 1980 and now held at Meisei University, Japan.

The folio is on display in Hong Kong until tomorrow, May 27, at the Asia World Expo.

An exclusive selection of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary masterpieces are also available for viewing at Sotheby's Hong Kong. They will be offered for sale by Sotheby's London on June 19 and 21.

Among the highlights of this collection are an outstanding Modigliani portrait, one of the finest pastels from Degas' Bather series, and a selection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings from a private English collection. Also on exhibition are works of famous contemporary artists including Lucian Freud, Andy Warhol and Zhang Xiaogang.

The upcoming Impressionist and Modern Art sale at Sotheby's London is expected to raise in excess of HK$950 million (US$121.79 million), the highest pre-sale estimate for any auction ever held in London.

(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2006)