First use of the word "blurb" (15-5-1907)

As Crystal says, it is very rare that we can give the exact date of a word's first use. This one was made up by American humorist Gellett Burgess (1866-1951). He announced it at a dinner of the American Booksellers' Association in New York on that date, and distributed copies of a book of his published the previous year, with a spoof cover featuring the word and an example of it. Next day the NY Times reported on the dinner (and the word), which Crystal says was "the word's first public usage". The dinner was presumably by-invitation-only. But depending on what they said, there may be issues of use vs. mention here. Perhaps this is why OED has no citation earlier than 1914 (a collection of Burgess's writings, where he does both.)
OED's definition: "A brief descriptive paragraph or note of the contents or character of a book, printed as a commendatory advertisement, on the jacket or wrapper of a newly published book."