I have a friend who’s employed since the 1980s by the OED in the U.S. as a word-origin sleuth/editor. He spends most of his time in the Library of Congress. This in fact may be his entry. I’d ask him, but I’m afraid he’ll tell me to shut my pie hole.

This leads to jokes about shoeshorns. As in, ‘I’ll beat you so bad you’ll need a shoehorn to put on your hat.’ And,

The Contrary Man. A contrary mortal was Anthony Slaughter – He washed in the towel, and wiped in the water, And put both his legs through his shirt to get in it, And forced off the buttons on purpose to pin it. He put on his hat with a shoehorn discreetly, Employing a bootjack to take it off neatly; Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle (1898), 3 September

Anything by Richard Brautigan. Nailed down, I’ll say In Watermelon Sugar. Because in watermelon sugar the deeds were done and done again as my life is done in watermelon sugar. I’ll tell you about it because I am here and you are distant.

How serious a student are you of the book?