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.

An illustration from a 1901 issue of Punch magazine.  The caption reads: "The good fairy Electra of the continuous current banishes the demon King Sulphur."

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.

An illustration from a 1902 issue of Punch magazine.

Science dances with the fairy radium in 1903 as today.  An illustration from a 1903 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 1904 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "High above the sea, the road leads you to this fairyland."

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.

An illustration from an 1898 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.

An illustration from a 1900 issue of The Strand magazine.  The caption reads: "'Are you a fairy?' she asked."

Even way back in 1906, the election fairy had a knack for manipulating the voting machine.  From Punch, 1906.

"Lamp Fairy":  an illustration from an 1859 issue of Godey's magazine.

It's been said that like a poet, a golfer is born and not made.  It may all boil down to a baby's affiliation with fairies.  The illustration is from Punch, 1892.

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

An illustration from an 1899 issue of Pall Mall magazine.

Dedicated to Teresa Burritt.

The secret of long-distance communication is revealed in this illustration from a 1913 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "Fairy magic—telephone reality."

"A bit of mica glimmering in a crevice of the pavement suggests its story of the many feet that have passed over it; the tiny wildflowers peeping through the lush grass along a forest pathway whisper intimate secrets of the woods; a cobweb spun within the belfry of an old church reveals its mysterious hieroglyphs."
—Jessie Lemont, "The Fairy Folk of Dugald Stewart Walker," The International Studio, 1914