Farvos bistu Romeo?* First Yiddish Romeo and Juliet on sale at London’s book fair

While parting with it will indeed be sweet sorrow for the seller, a first edition copy of the very first translation of Romeo and Juliet into Yiddish is available for £2,250 at Firsts, London’s Rare Book Fair. 

The book, published in Ukraine in 1935 as Romeo un Zshulyete: tragedya in finf aktn, will be brought to the London event, themed ‘Shakespeare: 400 Years of Influence’, by exhibitor PY Rare Books.

It is inscribed by its translator, the Russian Jewish folklorist Y. Goldberg, to the important Yiddish author Aron Gurshteyn. Goldberg’s work has been studied for the interesting perspective it provides on the Jewish relationship with Shakespeare.

Playing host to over 100 international antiquarian dealers at the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea, the Book Fair celebrates four centuries since the publication of Shakespeare’s First Folio, and its impact on subsequent literary greats.

Highlights on display, ranging in price from £190 to £75,000, include a copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio, an original maquette for the BAFTA trophy and a page from a handwritten Dickens manuscript.

Click here for tickets and further information.