"Things were gettin' awfuller and awfuller every instant," from A Story-Teller's Pack by Frank Richard Stockton, 1897.

"Smoothed his hat & talked about the weather."  From The Works of George John Whyte-Melville, 1898.

"But through Duntullum's pile like witch's tooth / The ceaseless seawinds whistle without ruth."  From Dunvegan Castle by Harold Steward Rathbone, 1900.

The caption reads, "I suddenly arose in my ghostly attire and in a moment was upon him."  From "The Ghost in the Cemetery" in Allan Pinkerton's Criminal Reminiscences and Detective Sketches, 1878.

Here's a precursor to David Copperfield's illusion of walking through the Great Wall of China, from Shrewsbury by Stanley John Weyman, 1898.  The caption reads, "In an instant I was on the other side of the fence."

True as it can be

Barely even friends

Then somebody bends

Unexpectedly  ♪ ♫  

From Eric Brighteyes by Henry Rider Haggard, 1893.

From St. Nicholas magazine, 1894.