‘You won’t believe it,’ he[Fitz McGee] said. ‘Those dummies won’t let me scratch! The horse is gonna be odds‐on and I’ve got a chunk bet on him out of town. Never get thebookie call it off this late.’
1852, “Jubilee Conference of the Sunday School Union”, inThe Union Magazine for Sunday School Teachers, volume IX, London:Sunday School Union,[…], page347:
[…] although I had not felt the power of the truth on my own heart, yet I took particular care to read all the littlebookies before I put them into the hands of the children.
1853, “The Scottish Prayer Book and the Scottish Canons”, inThe Scottish Magazine, and Churchman’s Review, volume II, Edinburgh: R. Lendrum & Co.,[…], page122:
When, under the old regime, after the sermon was over “littlebookies” were handed round, with this title—“The Communion Office, according to the use of the Church of Scotland,” was this nothing more than a handing about of lies in right hands, because the English Office was not bound up with them?
1873, “[Reviews of Books.]Bessie Brown, and other Books.[…]”, inThe Scottish Sabbath-School Teachers’ Magazine, volume V, Edinburgh; London: Gall & Inglis.[…], page96, column 1:
Gems, Jewels, Happy Stories for Boys, and Happy Stories for Girls, are the names of four attractive packets filled with those nice littlebookies which are so much liked by young people.
Little Miss Muffet / Sat on a tuffet / Not eating curds and whey. / Instead, she ate cookies / And read littlebookies / She saw advertised yesterday.
1981, Anne Christie,My Secret Gorilla, Piatkus,→ISBN, page 1:
‘Read abookie, Mummy.’ Tasha, my oldest, plump, pink, and beady-eyed, pulled at my leg. ‘Read abookie.’ I sighed, and looked down at the little girl, surrounded by her heap of strewn books and balding teddies.
This year, the five finalists were all females living in New York City who had published precious littlebookies they called novels—or were they hybrid short-story amalgamations?
2015, Pëtr Filippovich Iakubovich, translated by Andrew A. Gentes,In the World of the Outcasts: Notes of a Former Penal Laborer, Volume II (Anthem Series on Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies), Anthem Press,→ISBN, page134:
Thus spoke our brave captain; but at the very same time, he responded in an entirely different spirit to questions from other prisoners who also sometimes begged for the “littlebookies”: “I’ll show youbookies! Nonsense, nonsense! The Gospels and the Bible should be all a prisoner needs for spiritual sustenance.”
