[Ads-l] Technique to search for years in Google Books (was Antedating "machine head")

[John Doe]

Thanks for the advice!

On Fri, Jun 28, 2024 at 6:57 AM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> John Doe wrote:
> > (Note: I can't find the actual date printed anywhere in the book,
> > so I'm relying on Google Books ro be accurate with its dates.)
>
> It is irritating when the front matter of a volume does not list any
> year. Sadly, the year specified in the Google Books metadata is not
> reliable in this situation. Here is one strategy for approximating the
> date. One may use the number range operator to attempt to find a year
> listed within a book.
>
> A Google search query may include two numbers separated by two
> periods. The Google search engine will attempt to find numbers which
> fall within the range specified by the two numbers.
>
> For example, suppose you think a book was published in the nineteenth
> century then you may execute the following query:
>
> Link to book:
> https://books.google.com/books?id=qBwGAAAAQAAJ&
>
> Query:
> 1800..1899
>
> Searching within "Amateur Work Illustrated" (year 1773 according to
> Google Books metadata) with this query reveals many pertinent matches.
> Pages display 1840, 1862, 1870, 1882, etc. Of course, one must examine
> these numbers in context to see whether they correspond to dates or
> something else, e.g., part numbers.
>
> Query 1882-1899 shows some matches, but 1883-1899 shows no matches.
>
> The date July 1, 1882 appears on the back cover beneath the words
> "Cocoa-Nut Fibre Refuse"
>
> The date above is a lower bound on the date of publication.
>
> The query 1900..1999 reveals a match for 1953, but it is not a year.
> It seems to be a part number.
>
> Garson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org