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

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:08 PM -0500 3/6/10, Robin Hamilton wrote:
>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Tom went ballistic, and insisted the entire run (2,000 copies) be withdrawn.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

Did "bourgeoisie" used to denote a member of the class rather than
(or in addition to) the class itself?  Now it would have to be the
last bourgeois who was strung up.

LH

>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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