An illustration from The Land of Thor by J. Ross Browne (1870).

An illustration from Oh Mary, Be Careful! by George Weston (1917).  The caption reads: "'Oh, dear!' she thought in sudden alarm, 'what's he doing that for?'"

An illustration from Philo Gubb, Correspondence School Detective by Ellis Parker Butler (1918).  The caption reads: "Mr. Winterberry did not seem to be concealed among them."

An illustration from The White Wife by Cuthbert Bede (1865).

An illustration from Carrageen and Other Legends by K. M. Loudon (1892), drawn by Edith Scannell.  The caption reads: "In another moment they would have seen him."

An illustration from The Bachelors Club by Laurel Zangwill (1891).  The caption reads: "I met him in the Atlantic and congratulated him."

Ruined castles are actually the bones of once vibrant creations, not only alive but kicking.  (You've surely heard of flying buttresses.)  Our illustration of "a real live castle" is from Our Boys in Ireland by Henry Willard French, 1891.

An illustration from Peg Woffington by Charles Reade (1868).  The caption reads: "Oh, yes! you are beautiful, you are gifted, and the eyes of thousands wait upon your every word and look."

Uroboric yin-yang fish: an illustration from an 1896 issue of The Idler magazine.

An illustration from The Mahatma and the Hare: A Dream Story by H. Rider Haggard (1911).  The caption reads: "Changed indeed, mysterious, wonderful."

We learn in the BBC series The Mighty Boosh that "there are over seventeen mirrors in the mirror world."  We find a precursor in The Century of Louis XIV by Frances Cashel Hoey, 1896.

An illustration from Gentlemen All and Merry Companions by Ralph Wilhelm Bergengren (1922).  The caption reads: "There was a long, white flash in the moonlight."

An illustration from The Bachelors Club by Laurel Zangwill (1891).  The caption reads: "Again the voice came from the centre of the curling rings, 'I am your father's ghost.'"

From Prof. Oddfellow's sketchbook:

An illustration from The King of the Conjurors by James Skipp Borlase (1877).  The caption reads: "Buried in the sand."

"Tell my secret? No, indeed, not I; / Perhaps some day, who knows?"  From Through Woodland and Meadow and Other Poems by Marie Low, 1891.

An illustration from The Cup of Fury by Rupert Hughes (1919).  The caption reads: "Aren't you afraid to push on when you can't see where you're going?"

An illustration from In the Sweet and Dry by Christopher Morley and Bart Haley (1919), illustrated by Gluyas Williams.  The caption reads: "'Hush,' said Quimbleton nervously. 'Someone may be watching us. ... You see I water the flowers with champagne.'"

An illustration from The Mahatma and the Hare: A Dream Story by H. Rider Haggard (1911).  The caption reads: "Guided, guarded by the spirits of dead suns."

An illustration from The Fur Country by Jules Verne (1874).  The caption reads: "A new country was springing into being."