"He was caught beneath the cover of the book."  From Imaginotions: Truthless Tales by Tudor Jenks, 1894.

"Pixy, Brownie, Elf and Sprite / All are on their rounds tonight.  Forget your cares.  Awakened be.  Join in the fun and impish glee."  Date uncertain.  This should also be of interest: How to Believe in Your Elf.

It's always a fitful night's rest when the wee folk demand autonomy.  From Kladderadatsch, 1928.  See How to Believe in Your Elf.

Google incorrectly scanned these Greek letters as "elf," but -- and this may surprise you! -- the sentence reads correctly that way, too.  If you take an elf away, you deprive a word of its significant part.  From Lexilogus by Philipp Carl Buttmann, 1836.   Important: see How to Believe in Your Elf.

"He pretended to yawn."  From Imaginotions: Truthless Tales by Tudor Jenks, 1894.

From Yankee Enchantments by Charles Battell Loomis and illustrated by F. Y. Cory, 1900. 

From Mocca, 1930.

A snippet from How to Believe in Your Elf.

From Yankee Enchantments by Charles Battell Loomis and illustrated by F. Y. Cory, 1900. 

"I've often heard the moon declare that shooting stars are growing there."  From Beyond the Mountain by Sarah Stokes Halkett and illustrated by Katharine Pyle, 1917.

From How to Believe in Your Elf.