The rivers in Southern China brought down to Canton bamboos of many species, where this wondrously utilitarian reed enters very largely into the industrial life of that people, and not merely into the industrial life, but even into the culinary arts, for bamboo sprouts are a universal vegetable in China; but among all the bamboos of China I found none of Superexcellence in carbonizing qualities.
"Edison, His Life and Inventions"
Frank Lewis Dyer and Thomas Commerford Martin
He was a man, however, who seemed to be singularly deficient in those supreme qualities which in the West have exalted the ability to "keep a hotel" into a proverbial synonym for Superexcellence.
"Openings in the Old Trail"
Bret Harte
Up to the present time the splendour of such audacious marvels hath not gone unpunished; for their very Superexcellence is the death of your good name.
"The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti"
John Addington Symonds