Five rare editions of work from famed English playwright William Shakespeare will be on sale for more than $14.6 million at an upcoming book fair in New York.

Owned by rare book dealer Peter Harrington in London, the editions will be offered for sale at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair from April 27 to 30.

They include the four folios of Shakespeare's plays, as well as a book of poems, all published in the 17th century and each individually priced.

Peter Harrington says this is the first time all five volumes have been up for sale at the same time in more than 20 years.

"It's the most desirable book in the English language," Pom Harrington, owner of Peter Harrington, said in a video on the First Folio.

The sale comes on the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's First Folio, published in 1623 by two of the playwright's close friends seven years after his death.

The First Folio is credited for solidifying Shakespeare's influence on the English language, Peter Harrington says on its website.

The book contains 36 plays, half of which were never previously published, among them Henry VIII, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew and The Tempest.

An estimated 750 copies are believed to have been made in the original print run, of which 232 are still in existence as of 2012.

The copy of the First Folio up for sale is being sold for $10.4 million (£6.25 million).

A copy of Shakespeare's Second Folio, published in 1632, is for sale for $750,700 (£450,000).

The Third Folio published in 1663, considered the rarest of the four folios with only 29 copies of the first issue in existence — three in private hands — is listed at approximately $2.08 million (£1.25 million).

Shakespeare's Fourth Folio, the last of the 17th century editions of his work, published in 1685 and noted for its larger height, is for sale for approximately $309,000 ((£185,000).

The last book, the first collected edition of Shakespeare's poems published in 1640, is considered even rarer than the First Folio, Peter Harrington says, with 64 copies located along with one fragment, with only five complete versions held privately.

Despite being smaller, the book is priced at more than $1.04 million (£625,000).