Antedatings in the Yale Book of Quotations - 2: Better Mousetrap

[Fred Shapiro]

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better mousetrap (OED, s.v. mousetrap, 1889)

1882 _Decatur_ (Ill.) _Daily Republican_ 19 May 2/2 (Newspaperarchive.com)
If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon or make a better
mouse-trap than his neighbor, though he builds his house in the woods, the
world will make a beaten path to his door. -- _Emerson_.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS
   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press
Yale Law School                             ISBN 0300107986
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
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