"Last night, as sad I chanced to stray, the village death-bell smote my ear."  From Illustrated British Ballads, Old and New, 1894.

From Tales and Sketches of Lancashire Life by Benjamin Brierley, 1882.

"The matrimonial duet turned into a trio," from Jacob Faithful by Frederick Marryat, in Dicks' English Library of Standard Works, 1884.

Here's precursor to decorative adhesive strips, from The National and Domestic History of England by William Hickman Smith Aubrey, 1878.  The caption reads, "Lady's face with patches."

Here's a blooming halo from Iconographie Chrétienne by Adolphe Napoléon Didron, 1843.

From The Prisoner of Chiloane, or, With the Portuguese in South-East Africa by Wallis Mackay, 1890.

From Le Sang des Dieux by Jean Lorrain, 1920.

Here's a precuror to the cliche of a film director framing a scene with his fingers.  From Первое путешествіе въ аѳонскіе монастыри и скиты въ 1845(-1846) году.

You've heard of people who have "been there, done that."  Here's exactly where "there" is.  We'll leave what "that" entailed to your imagination.  From Fair Diana by Wanderer and illustrated by Georgina Bowers, 1884.

"'Oh, Olive, Olive,' was all the lad could sob."  Sounds as if Olive's lad is in a pickle.  (Forgive us.)  From Hamilton of King's by Alice Price, 1890.

Here's a precursor to the "let your fingers do the walking" ad campaign, from The Home Library by Arthur Penn, 1883.  This one goes out to all the E.J.s of the world.

From The Works of Charles Dickens, Household Edition.

"The Handsome Clear-Starcher: A Legend of the Days of Queen Elizabeth," illustrated by George Cruikshank, from Bentley's Miscellany, 1838.

"Beheld a spectacle which made them recoil," from Dicks' English Library of Standard Works, edited by Percy Bolingbroke Saint John, 1884.

Here's a looming feeling from Der Schwarzwald by Wilhelm Hermann Kensen and illustrated by W. Hasemann, 1890.

From St. Nicholas magazine, 1877.

"Spirits of wine," from The Oxford Thackeray.

"'Allah, Allah!' cried the baker on seeing a human head."  From "Story of the Baked Head," in Dicks' English Library of Standard Works, 1884.