more "Limerick" quotes

Tue Mar 15 14:08:57 UTC 2011

Thanks for the post, Stephen. The Printer's Ink citation is great.
Here is a later cite that may interest others. Unfortunately, the
precise date is not clear to me, but I think it is before the
important Broadway magazine and Notes and Queries cites in 1898.

Cite: [Date not given; Probably before June 30, 1898 see below], The
Morningside, Volume 3, Page 126, Columbia College, New York. (Google
Books snippet; HathiTrust full view)

The following Limerick, technically so-called, is quite worthy of the
pen which produced "The Purple Cow." We wish we could reproduce the
illustration; it is illuminating:

"THIS INFANT, - the fat one who squints, -
Is really a Japanese Quince.
  The other, I guess,
  Is a Chinese Quincess
Grafted on from a Louis Seize chintz."

HathiTrust shows the full text. This link points to the volume and not
the page. Search for limerick to find the page:
http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433075982516

Google Books only shows snippets:
http://books.google.com/books?id=8-MSAAAAIAAJ&q=limerick#search_anchor

I was unable to locate a date for the periodical. The word limerick
appears on page 126. On page 138 there is text that looks like an
advertisement for an "Annual Regatta" that contains the dates: "June
30th and July 1st, 1898." In addition, an advertisement on Page 139
for Brooks Brothers mentions "Spring and Summer 1898". This is
evidence that the issue was published before June 30, 1898.
Garson

On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 5:57 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Subject:      more "Limerick" quotes
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In 1892 the word "Limerick" appeared in a perhaps noteworthy setting. This quote was found last year by Dr. Bob Turvey (who also found the 1895 Kipling quote). By now I assume his article, "An 1892 Use of the Word 'Limerick' in America" has been published in "The Pentatette" Limerick newsletter, edited by Doug Harris (and formerly edited by Arthur Deex).  Thanks to them for sharing this text with me last year. The quote is in Printers' Ink, A Journal for Advertisers (New York) v. 7 no. 23 Dec. 7, 1892 pp.749-50. It is a report from London, but to an American audience. T. B. Russell recalls that certain ads used nonsense verses, which he--and not the ads--termed "Limericks."
> http://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=limericks+allcock+intitle:ink&num=10
>
> Doug Harris also noted an article in which comment on "Limerick" may reflect the reputation of the verses--or, at least, such may be a plausible inference. New York Times. Jan 21, 1894 p. 8 "Not Lady Limericks Please"
> "A Worthy Organization Feels Most Grossly Libeled....What's in a name?...unlike the poet's rose...." the [New York] Limerick Women's Benevolent and Social Association objected to being called Lady Limericks.
>
> In the May 1860 quote (posted by Garson O'Toole) for Lecompcon I suggest reading Lecompton [Kansas], and interpret the passage as reflecting the impending Civil War.
>
> Recall also, along with other US "come to Limerick" quotes (in the sense of surrender or settle or the like):
> Nov. 1880 Canadian "wont you come to Limerick" (after "There was a young rustic named Mallory....") and the
> Dec. 1880 "Limerick Rhymes" (published in New York). George Wilkes was associated with both the National Police Gazette and with The Spirit of the Times, that published five-line nonsense verses during the Civil War.
> Nov. 13, 1881 "Limerick Rhymes" Daily Globe. (St. Paul, Minn.)
> Oct. 10, 1891 "Limerick license," apparent play on "poetic license." The Critic (New York) no. 406, p. 179: "...we would say, with Limerick license, that if Mr. Knight's novel were the only one ever written about Theosophy, it would still be the worst."
> Jan. 1895 letter (with "Limericks") from Kipling, then in Naulakha, Vermont.
> Oct. 1898 Broadway magazine - Page 557 v2 n1
> "VIVACIOUS VERSES, by Lawrence Limerick. This is a collection of scintillating
> stanzas, intended, we presume, for the eyes of children. But grown-ups can
> derive singular pleasure from the perusal of some of them. This, for instance:
> There was a young girl of New York,
> Who never ate bacon nor pork;
> When they said: "Have some ham?
> She replied "Yes I am!"
> Which surprised the young men of New York.
> This little book of verses will probably be distributed in the schools in this
> fall."
>
> Would it then be accurate to write "Add in the earliest examples of the term being from the UK and _limerick_ would more probably have appeared first in Britain."? Or more accurate: the poem name limerick is, on present evidence, first attested in North America?
>
> Stephen Goranson
> http://www.duke.edu/~goranson
>
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