antedating (?) "ivory tower" (1894)

[Stephen Goranson]

The same speaker, Edmund Gosse, a year earlier [Google Books full view]
Questions at Issue (London, 1883) p22):
... and when the battle is over, and the rest meet to carouse round a
camp-fire,
he [Mallarme] is always found stealing back to the ivory tower of
contemplation.
...
SG

Quoting Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>:

> Of course the collocation exists before 1894. And in poetry meaning an
> architectural tower, rather than a neck (see Doug Wilson in the archives).
> In any case the following seems at least close to the OED's "A condition of
> seclusion or separation from the world; in general, protection or
> shelter from
> the harsh realities of life," for which, in English, they start with 1911.
>
> Fayetteville Observer, (Fayetteville, NC) Thursday, June 28, 1894; Issue 584;
> page 1, col E
>     A Literary Philosopher Category: News [19th C US N]
> ....There is a vulgarity that hangs about the author who seeks the crowd. Let
> the crowd seek you; let them clamor at the posteru [?postern with last letter
> inverted?] of your ivory tower....
>
> Stephen Goranson
> http://www.duke.edu/~goranson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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