The first citation in the Oxford English Dictionary - Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989, Oxford University Press, OED.com - is the 7 April 1866 edition of the Athenaeum: "A prodigy ... who does wonderful things with little drumstick on a machine of wooden keys. called the 'xylophone'.".However, the word appears earlier in the 1865 The Ladies' Companion, pub. Rogerson and Tuxford, p.152, Google Books Both citiations refer to the performance of a child prodigy, Sunbury.
The first citation in the Oxford English Dictionary - Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989, Oxford University Press, OED.com - is the 7 April 1866 edition of the Athenaeum: "A prodigy ... who does wonderful things with little drumstick on a machine of wooden keys. called the 'xylophone'.".However, the word appears earlier in the 1865 The Ladies' Companion, pub. Rogerson and Tuxford, p.152, Google Books Both citiations refer to the performance of a child prodigy, Sunbury.
