Shakespeare book trial

A BRITISH man was facing jail yesterday after being found guilty of handling stolen goods following the disappearance of a rare William Shakespeare manuscript dating from 1623.

Raymond Scott, a 53-year-old antiques dealer, was discovered after taking the book to staff at the world-renowned Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC in 2008 and asking them to verify that it was genuine.

The First Folio, a collection of Shakespeare’s plays worth about €1.2 million, was taken from Durham University in northeast England in 1998 but Scott was cleared of stealing.