A set of four Shakespeare collections estimated to be worth more than 3.5 million pounds ($4.7 million) will be sold in London next month, auction house Sotheby's said.

The first collection of William Shakespeare's plays was published in 1623 and is considered one of the most important books in English literature.

Without it, probably half of the writer's plays would have been lost, including Macbeth, Twelfth Night and Julius Caesar.

Of the 750 copies published when originally printed, about 235 survive.

A new printing in 1632 gave rise to a second collection containing corrections to the original, and a third, containing seven additional plays, appeared in 1664. Many of the copies were lost in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The series was completed with a fourth edition in 1685.

Generations of bibliophiles have dreamed of owning the complete set, but this became increasingly difficult to achieve as the number of copies in private hands dwindled.

The four editions were last offered together in 1989 in New York.

The set, which will be sold by Sotheby's on 23 May, with an estimate of £3.5m to £4.5m, was assembled in 2016 | BGNES, AFP