Can I use late binding to check the existence of a library before using it via early binding?

Question

I like to use early binding in my VBA projects, since I like the auto-complete of method names, etc. during development. I also like the confidence of knowing that the compiler will warn me if I've mis-spelled a method name.

However, to use early binding I need to add a reference to the relevant library (for example, the "Microsoft Scripting Runtime"). That's fine for "standard" libraries like that, but sometimes I want to use a library that may or may not be present on the user's machine.

Ideally, I'd like to display a useful message if the library is not present (such as "xyz is not installed on this computer, and so this feature cannot be used"). If I was using only late binding, then I could do this:

Dim o As Object
Set o = CreateObject("foo", "bar")

If o Is Nothing Then
    MsgBox "nope"
End If

But, if I've added a reference to the library in order to use early binding, then if the library is not present I get a compile error when my VBA project is loaded. Thus, none of the code runs (including the code to detect the non-existence of the library).

Is there any way around this catch-22?