Antedating of "Poker Face"

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Sun, Jan 27, 2013 at 03:27:19PM +0000, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
> poker face (OED 1884)
>
> 1874 _Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art_ 26
> Dec. 837 (ProQuest) _Round Games at Cards_, by Cavendish. ...We haven
> given us in this little book clear rules for some fifteen round games
> at cards. ... To any one not very well up in these games, some parts
> of the book are at first sight rather puzzling. "It follows," we read
> in one passage, "that the possession of a good _poker face_" (the
> italics are the author's) "is an advantage."
>
> NOTE:  An earlier citation could be found in the reviewed book itself.

Not exactly. A citation can be found in the reviewed book, but it is not
"earlier", because the book has a publication date of 1875, while the
review quoted above is from December 1874.

This is the sort of thing that keeps bibliographers up at night.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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