“What manner o’ thing is your crocodile?”: April 2016

I think it reads “[Soth]eby sale”. Are there any prizes?

It looks like good quality paper, judging from the edges. But it doesn’t look like old paper. Hard to see if there are chain or wire lines. Symmetry suggests it was folded before being torn. “Sotheby sale” is surely the right reading. But why was it torn off, and from what? If it’s in the Folger collection, someone thought (or thinks) it has value.

Given that this is the year that copies of the First Folio are touring the states, I’m going to guess that this slip of paper was found inside one of the folios after being bought by the Folgers.

Agree with Sotheby as being the first word. Importantly, this is Henry Folger’s handwriting.