antedating "limerick" (1888) ? OED

[Stephen Goranson]

Quoting John-Patrick <email1 at FOLKLORE.MS>:

> Hello,
>
> I have found an edition of Edward Lear's book issued in 1888 after
> the death of Lear in January of that year that is titled "A Book of
> Limericks":
>
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=sGoOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR15&dq=limericks+date:1870-1890+poem+OR+poems+OR+verse&client=firefox-a#PPR7,M1
>
>
> This antedates "limerick" in the OED by 8 years.  I can find no copy
> of this edition in WorldCat and that is rather strange.  Can anyone
> find other copies of this book?   Am I missing something?
>
> Any help is appreciated.
>
> Yours,
>
> John Patrick

WorldCat has:

A book of limericks,

Edward Lear
1888
English Book Book xxii p., 1 l., [25]-85, 81 p., 2 l., [7]-37 p., 2 l.,
7-41 p.
illus. 20 cm.
Boston, Little, Brown, and company
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Find Items About:       Lear, Edward, (max: 498)
Title:  A book of limericks,
Author(s):      Lear, Edward, 1812-1888.
Publication:    Boston, Little, Brown, and company
Year:   1888
Description:    xxii p., 1 l., [25]-85, 81 p., 2 l., [7]-37 p., 2 l., 7-41 p.
illus. 20 cm.
Language:       English
Standard No:    LCCN: 41-38057
        SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor:     Limericks.
Note(s):        Includes music.
Class Descriptors:      LC: PR4879.L2
Responsibility:         by Edward Lear, illustrated by the author.
Document Type:  Book
Entry:  19720622
Update:         20080902
Accession No:   OCLC: 338649
Database:       WorldCat

And it's available (from the NY Public Library copy) at Internet Archive:
http://firstsearch.oclc.org/WebZ/FSPage?pagetype=return_frameset:sessionid=fsapp9-39463-fozmr47y-5v9tms:entitypagenum=7:0:entityframedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.archive.org%2Fdetails%2Fbookoflimericks00lear:entityframedtitle=WorldCat:entityframedtimeout=15:entityopenTitle=:entityopenAuthor=:entityopenNumber=:

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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