"liberty tree", 1765, 1766 (antedating 1776)

[Robin Hamilton]

Somewhat OT, but the first issue of Tom Paulin's collection of poems, _The
Liberty Tree_ (published in the UK by Faber) sported The Wrong Tree.

Tom went ballistic, and insisted the entire run (2,000 copies) be withdrawn.

Unfortunately, some review copies had already been sent out prior to
publication ...

So if you happen to get your hands on a copy with a Christmas Tree rather
than the more appropriate liberty tree, you're quids in, and ought to sell
it to the nearest bookdealer.

Robin the Situationist

(haunted by the Ghost of Guy Casement Debord -- "The revolution will come
when the last bourgoisie is strung up from a lamp post by the guts to the
last capitalist." -- how's *that for a liberty tree, jimmy?)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, March 06, 2010 1:30 PM
Subject: "liberty tree", 1765, 1766 (antedating 1776)


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      "liberty tree", 1765, 1766 (antedating 1776)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> OED 2nd edition has "liberty tree" in 1776 -- and no other
> quotations, earlier or later.  The earliest I find are 1765 and 1766.

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