"Curl up to a good book"

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

I've been trying to find out when people started talking about
"curling  up with a good book." The phrase doesn't show up in the MOA
collection or the  UVa mod. Eng. text collection, and the earliest
cite I've been able to find  is from the NYT, Aug 29, 1926: "We read
that he [Gene Tunny] takes a day off  from training and curls up with
a good book." But I'd have thought this goes  back further than that.

Geoff Nunberg

Oh, all right. Maybe everybody else was busy preparing for  Chrismukkah.


(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS) ("curl up with" and "book")
     1.
_BOOKS  OF THE WEEK.; Strong Brief for Expansion. Mr. Cable's Portrait. A
Study in  Character. Dr. Abbott's View of Paul. Lafcadio Hearn's New Book. New
Work  on Chess. Brief Mention. Books Received. _
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=000000426638861&SrchMode=1&sid=6&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=3
09&VName=HNP&TS=1101019141&clientId=65882)
Chicago  Daily Tribune (1872-1963). Chicago, Ill.: Jan 28, 1899. p.10 (1
page)
???

2.
_WIVES  OF TOMORROW; All Is Well _
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=1&did=000000239746852&SrchMode=1&sid=6&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HN
P&TS=1101019141&clientId=65882)
By FRANCES  McDONALD.. The Washington Post (1877-1954).  Washington, D.C.:
Sep 1, 1924. p. 12 (1 page) :
Curl up with a book just as if you were alone.

3.

_Vacation  Season On, But Who'd Ever Guess It?_
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=2&did=000000098387715&SrchMode=1&sid=6&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT
=309&VName=HNP&TS=1101019141&clientId=65882)
By  L.H.R.. New York Times (1857-Current file).  New York, N.Y.: Aug 29,
1926. p. XX2 (1 page)

_Display  Ad 20 -- No Title_
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=34&did=000000105855316&SrchMode=1&sid=9&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=
1101020726&clientId=65882)
New York Times (1857-Current  file). New York, N.Y.: Mar 21, 1923. p. 20 (1
page):
_ONE OF THE SUPREME SATISFACTIONS OF  LIVING!_
THE man who has not learned to curl up on a sofa of an  evening occasionally
and "lose himself" in a rattling good story, or "find  himself" under the
influence of an author with provocative ideas, is  missing one of the supreme
satisfactions of living.
(Ad for Borzoi Books, Alfred A. Knopf--ed.)

_Other  4 -- No Title_
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=40&did=000000361774412&SrchMode=1&sid=9&Fmt=10&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=HNP&TS=110102
0308&clientId=65882)
Los Angeles Times (1886-Current  File). Los Angeles, Calif.: Dec 4, 1925. p.
7 (1 page)
(there was a room lined with books, where Sam was  allowed to go and where he
would curl up in a window seat, and read and  read until his father would
come and turn him out to play).


(_WWW.NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM_ (http://www.NEWSPAPERARCHIVE.COM) )
     _Barnard Bulletin _
(http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Viewer.aspx?img=QIApIoRPQIyKID/6NLMW2qbRoZxMX46Dtcp074ovQF282GxRSG7v8UIF+CsZYmrz)  Friday,
October 02, 1925 _New York,_
(http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=city:new_york+curl+up+and+book+AND)  _New York_
(http://www.newspaperarchive.com/Search.aspx?Search=state:new_york+curl+up+and+book+AND)      ...divan is a
wonderful  place in which to CURL UP- f _ A AND read.  Don-1 miss our.....We can
tavit. ytiu much monry on your BOOK  especially if you can for our pr  If..