World News for Students of English

27-02-2015 15:00

An incredibly rare book by William Shakespeare is making its journey back to the UK after it was discovered in a French library last year.

The First Folio contains 36 plays and it’s thought to be one of the most valuable books in English literature.

It lay untouched for years and was then accidentally found by a librarian when he was carrying out research for a planned exhibition.

“This book or its value increased because of its past history and it was kind of in hibernation since it’s been sleeping on these drawers for two centuries. It’s been in great demand in the last few weeks, so we’re trying to preserve it as much as possible and we’re taking great care of it so we wrapped it carefully.”

There are only 230 copies of the First Folio in existence and the latest discovery makes it only the second in France. The book was first published seven years after Shakespeare’s death and is now incredibly valuable.

The book contains renowned plays such as Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and The Tempest but thirty pages are missing, including the title page with its iconic portrait of the writer.

Difficult words: incredibly (very), valuable (very important and worth a lot of money), kind of (in a way), hibernation (to sleep and to  be left alone for a long time), demand (to want something strongly), preserve (to make something stay good for a long time), renowned (famous), tempest (a violent, windy storm), iconic (a recognizable thing), portrait (a paiting, drawing, or photo of a person).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com