[Exhibitman]

The copyright date reflects the year the item was submitted to the Library of Congress, not the date of commercial issue of the set. I can copyright a book today and not offer it for sale until next year.

Beware of errors of inductive reasoning: Reference to an event on a card indicates only that the copy on the card was drafted no earlier than the day after that event, not that it was issued on a specific date after that. For example, referring to a December 8, 1948 trade on a card means that the card bio was written some time after 12/8/48. Saying it was issued in 1949 is an assumption based on the likely date of issue given that bio; not saying it is wrong, just that it is not direct evidence. What if Leaf rolled out the set for Christmas? It would be a 1948 issue.