antedating "Easter bunny/ rabbit"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Both: 1900 OED

1881 _Lebanon [Pa.] Daily News_ (Apr. 16) : Easter Eggs. ...In this
instance the Easter rabbit did not pass us by.

1888 _Daily Picayune_ (N.O.) (Apr. 1) 9:  The Easter rabbit and Easter nest
bespeak to their childish imagination an agency as mysterious as the
wonderful Santa Claus.

1890 _Atchison [Kans.] Daily Globe_  (Mar. 21) unp: The Easter rabbit is
getting the hunted look.

NewpaperArchive  finds exx. of "Easter bunny" in the English _Westminster
Budget_ in 1896 and 1898, but I cannot get either page to display.

GB claims an "Easter bunny" from 1835, but a look at the snippet shows
they're off by about 100 years. There's also an "1884" which is really
"1984" and an "1887" which is really "1987."

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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