THE FIRST FOLIO SHAKESPEARE 169 



for sale in good condition having brought the record price 

 of nearly $9,000, so that it is safe to assume that a perfect 

 copy, in the condition in which it left the publisher's hands, 

 would readily command $10,000, and the question now 

 arises : What would be the comparative value of the present 

 price, $10,000, and of the original price (one pound) placed 

 at interest and compounded every year since 1623 ? 



Over and over again I have heard it said that the pur- 

 chasers of the " First Folio " had made a splendid investment 

 and the same remark is frequently used in reference to the 

 purchase of books in general, irrespective of the present in- 

 tellectual use that may be made of them. Let us make 

 the comparison. 



Money placed at compound interest at six per cent, a 

 little more than doubles itself in twelve years. At the 

 present time and for a few years back, six per cent is a high 

 rate, but it is a very low rate for the average. During a 

 large part of the time money brought eight, ten, and twelve 

 per cent per annum, and even within the half century just 

 past it brought seven per cent during a large portion of 

 the time. Now, between 1623 and 1899, there are 23 

 periods, of 12 years each, and at double progression the 

 twenty-third term, beginning with unity, would be 

 8,388,608. This, therefore, would be the amount, in pounds, 

 which the volume had cost up to 1899. In dollars it would 

 be $40,794,878.88. An article which costs forty millions 

 of dollars, and sells for ten thousand dollars, cannot be 

 called a very good financial investment. 



From a literary or intellectual standpoint, however, the 

 subject presents an entirely different aspect. 



Some time ago I asked one of the foremost Shakesperian 

 scholars in the world if he had a copy of the " First Folio." 



