Quote: Our earth is degenerate in these latter days (antedating attrib Assyrian tablet 1922)

[Garson O'Toole]

The reference work "Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations
(1989)" contains a passage attributed to an "Assyrian stone tablet of
about 2800 B.C.":

Our earth is degenerate in these latter days; there are signs that the
world is speedily coming to an end; bribery and corruption are common;
children no longer obey their parents; every man wants to write a book
and the end of the world is evidently approaching.

A 1953 citation is provided together with a 1949 cite for part of the
quotation. The companion commentary states "Both of the above
quotations would seem to be spurious."

http://www.bartleby.com/73/456.html

Were there any cultures in 2800 B.C. with a literacy rate high enough
that a comment such as "every man wants to write a book" makes sense?

The above quote is quite popular because it furnishes strong evidence
for a story that is "too good to check" about the time invariant
preoccupations and trepidations of mankind. Here is an example in 2008
in The Sunday Times UK:

Predictions of the world’s end are nothing new though. We’ve picked
out 30 of the most memorable apocalypses that never, for one reason or
another, quite happened.

1: 2,800BC: The oldest surviving prediction of the world’s imminent
demise was found inscribed upon an Assyrian clay tablet which stated:
"Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. There are signs that
the world is speedily coming to an end. Bribery and corruption are
common." Wherever more than two people over 30 are gathered together,
expect to hear remarkably similar sentiments.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4717864.ece

Google Books archive has many instances of this quote and several are
in publications that are incorrectly dated. Misleading information
suggests dates of 1914, 1916, and 1917. But the earliest cite I have
found so far is in 1922:

Cite: 1922, Report of the State Librarian to The Governor, State of
Connecticut: Public Document No. 13, "Librarian's Report, 1920-22",
Page 93, "Report Submitted November 18, 1922 by State Librarian George
S. Godard", Published by the State of Connecticut, Hartford,
Connecticut. (Google Books full view)

     HUMAN NATURE THE SAME

A tablet (Assyrian) 2800 B.C. says:
  "Our earth is degenerate in these latter days; there are signs that
the world is speedily coming to an end; bribery and corruption are
common; children no longer obey their parents; every man wants to
write a book, and the end of the world is evidently approaching."
  Tablet preserved in Constantinople.

http://books.google.com/books?id=9bQYAQAAIAAJ&q=degenerate#v=snippet&

Another instance of the quotation appears in 1923.

Cite: 1923, Nineteenth Century Evolution and After by Marshall Dawson,
Page 76, Macmillan Company, New York. (HathiTrust)

The reading of what these ancient records had to say on this point
provoked only humor, a decade ago. The expressions used are, indeed,
quaint. An Assyrian tablet, dating from 2800 B. C., preserved in
Constantinople, says:

[The target quotation is repeated here.]

http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015001674079

In 1926 the California State Board of Education uses the quote. Note,
the Google Books archive contains a document with an incorrect 1914
date. President Lyndon Baines Johnson used the passage in a speech in
1967.

I would appreciate any help in tracking this quote. Thanks.

Garson

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