From Folk Songs edited by John Williamson Palmer, 1867.

Exquisite things are invariably surrounded by fairies.  From A Tramp Abroad Etc. by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1897).  The caption reads: "An exquisite thing."

An illustration from an 1887 issue of Frank Leslie's Pleasant Hours magazine.  The caption reads: "Twelve hundred Elfin knights and more were there in silk and steel arrayed."

Ice fairies from Punch, 1902.

An illustration from a 1906 issue of The Bystander magazine.  The caption reads: "And the damned grotesques danced arabesques."

The fairies who make words stick in your head.  An illustration from an 1890 issue of Punch magazine.

These cruel insects (butterfly fairies?) are killing a wasp in Punch, 1865.

"A natural enmity, attacking and tearing each other with the cruelty of insects." —Graphis: Volume 8 (1958)

A glass bottle from modern civilization is tossed into another world: an unmistakable precursor to the 1980 comedy film The Gods Must Be Crazy.  From Punch, 1902.

Boxing is generally considered an extremely macho sport, but few people realize every boxing match is overseen by fairies.  An illustration from an 1860 issue of Punch magazine.

"What a night for spirits and kelpies, warlocks, fairies, pixies, nixies, and sperrimongles!  Assuredly, if ever there could be a spot and a moment when this dull work-a-day world is surrendered to the absolute dominion of elfin powers, it much be here and it must be now!" —Agatha: A Fanciful Flight for a Gusty Night by George Halse, 1860.

An illustration from a 1907 issue of The Idler magazine.  The caption reads: "Shadowy forms seemed to be dancing round it."

Friendship is better than sleep, at least according to the fairies.  From Out and All About, Fables For Old and Young by H. A. Page, 1874.

Scream in ecstasy: we located ancestors of Salvador Dalí's moustache fairies, in The Californian (1891).