Proverb: Curiosity killed the cat (possibly 1873)

[Garson O'Toole]

The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs kicked "Curiosity killed the cat"
out the twentieth century and placed it into the appendix of 'No
Longer "Modern" Proverbs'.

Below seems to be the earliest known cite, and it is mentioned in the
Wikipedia entry, but verifying the date seems to be a difficult task.

Cite: 1873 (estimate), A Handbook of Proverbs: English, Scottish,
Irish, American, Shakesperean, and Scriptural; and Family Mottoes,
Edited by James Allan Mair, Page 34, George Routledge and Sons,
London. (Google Books full view)
http://books.google.com/books?id=6jQCAAAAQAAJ&q=curiosity#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
Curiosity killed the cat.   I.
[End excerpt]

The "I" designation is used for Irish proverbs.

Note about year: No date is given in the front pages. The introduction
refers to a book by Walter K. Kelly with a date of 1870. So the book
was published on or after 1870. Google Books and several library
catalogs assign a date of 1873, but some catalogs place question marks
or dashes in the date field.

The work is listed in an 1891 Catalogue from the British Museum which
assigns a date of 1873:

Cite: 1891, British Museum. Catalogue of Printed Books,
MAGIO-MALACRIDA, Column 210, Printed by William Clowes and Sons,
Limited, London. (Google Books full view)

http://books.google.com/books?id=qhJQAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Handbook+of+Proverbs%22#v=snippet&

Garson

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