[Ads-l] The _third degree_ antedating (?)

Robin Hamilton robin.hamilton3 at VIRGINMEDIA.COM
Sun Oct 23 17:56:23 UTC 2016


As it turns out, Garson and I were, indeed, looking at images of different
physical books, but the confusion got much confounded since the links on Hathi
direct to different texts depending in which country you are in.  If you are in
the UK, you get sent to the 1888 text, whereas if you're in the US, you succeed
in reaching the 1887 text.  Same link, different outcome.  

At least, I think that's what's happening.  

That aside, the state of play would seem to be that there are three relevant
Walling texts [leaving aside later reprints/reissues/re-editions, of which there
are some, but not pertinent to the point(s) at issue].

1. The First New York Issue -- dated 1887 on the title page, with a (c) 1887 on
the following page.  This is the one which Garson correctly identified as the
earliest occurrence, and the one which should be cited in referencing the first
appearance of the phrase, "the third degree".

2. The Second New York Issue -- dated 1888 on the title page, with a (c) 1887 on
the following page.  This was the one I was working from, and is (guessing)
substantially the same as the 1887 NY issue.  I can't access images of the 1887
text, but US residents can reach the 1888 text if they go to the Internet
Archive.  For reference purposes, this is Utterly Irrelevant, but is the easiest
way to get a downloadable pdf, if you actually want to read what Walling has to
say for himself.

3. The Denver Issue -- dated 1890 on the title page, with a (c) 1887 on the
following page.  This is the text currently cited by GDoS, and is a reprinting
the earlier New York text, with a new title page and some Denver-specific
material bolted on at the end by another hand.  This, because this particular
text was sold to benefit the Denver Police Benevolent Fund.

As GDoS has gone electric, it shouldn't be too difficult for the current 1890
citation to be replaced by Garson's earlier 1887 identification.

Robin Hamilton 

> 
>     On 23 October 2016 at 09:07 ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
> 
> 
>     Robin Hamilton wrote:
>     > Different text, earlier printing, wrong publication date.
> 
>     Thanks for double-checking the date, Robin. The first link below
>     points to the title page of the book I consulted. The title page has
>     the date 1887 printed at the bottom. Scrolling to the next page shows
>     1887 as the date for the copyright. Based on that information I
>     concluded that the book was published in 1887.
> 
>     Year: 1887
>     Title: Recollections of a New York chief of police
>     Author: George W. Walling.
>     Publisher: New York, Caxton Book Concern, Limited
>     Quote Page 189
>     Database: HathiTrust Full View
> 
>     http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t3bz6351m
>     http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t3bz6351m?urlappend=%3Bseq=197
> 
>     I do not see the 1888 date. Perhaps we are looking at different books?
> 
>     Garson
> 
>     > [Apologies, especially to Garson, but I simply couldn't resist beginning
>     > with the above line, which is an inference, and may be wrong. Reasoning
>     > follows.]
> 

As it turns out, as is noted above, I *was* wrong.  R.

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