antedating "fiction novel"

[Jonathan Lighter]

I believe I mentioned long go that I heard this phrase (n.b., not
"novel" by itself meaning almost any book) in 1969 while working at a
literary agency.

Anyway, here's an "early" printed example by somebody who should have
known better:

1988 Alf Louvre & Jeffrey Walsh, eds. _"Tell Me Lies about Vietnam"_
(Phila.: Open U. P.) 28: In fiction novels such as C. S. Stone's _The
Coasts of War_ (1966), William Wilson's _The L.B.J. Brigade_
(1966),...and the much-acclaimed John Del Veccio's
[sic] _The Thirteenth Valley_ (1982).

JL
--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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