Here's a precursor to the song "Walking with Scissors" by Gregory de Rocher's band Lowfish.  From The Comedies, Histories, Tragedies, and Poems of William Shakspere, 1851.

Here's a precursor to Playskool's roly-poly Weeble toys, 1971, from St. Nicholas magazine, 1912.  Illustration by Katherine Maynadier Daland.

Here's a precursor to M. C. Escher's Drawing Hands, 1948, from Haverford College Athletic Annual and 1900 Class Book.

Here's a precursor to the iconic "Blown-Away Man" photo, made famous in the Maxell ad campaigns.  From Cobb's Bill-of-Fare by Irwin Shrewsbury Cobb, 1913.

Which came first, the world of typewriter art or the, um, art of the typewriter world?  Our illustration of the typewriter world appears as an ad in Rod and Gun, 1891.

Here's a precursor to "No means no."  The caption reads, "'Does that mean, No?' Mr. Henley called after him."  From Blind Love by Wilkie Collins and illustrated by A. Forestier, 1890.

Yes -- here's a precursor to the Pac-Man ghost surrounded by -- what else? -- pac-dots/pellets, from Histoire de Saint-Chamond by James Jean Pierre Condamin, 1890.

We commonly use Latin words, known as Lorem Ipsum, as dummy text, but back in the day, simple chicken scratch sufficed.  Our illustration appears in The Comedies, Histories, Tragedies, and Poems of William Shakspere, 1851.

Dictionary.com traces the expression "to have a monkey on one's back" to 1930s narcotics slang, but we can do ever-so-much better with this illustration from Old and New London by Walter Thornbury, 1873.

From La Vuelta al Mundo; Viajes Interesantes y Novísimos Por Todos los Países con Grabados Por los Mejores Artistas, 1864.

Here are prototypes of the novelty Groucho nose-and-glasses disguise, twenty-two years before Groucho's birth, from The 5 Alls by Thomas Hood, 1868.  Why no mustache?  It's to be painted on, naturally!

Here's a precursor to the Ghostbusters theme (with the catchphrase, "I ain't afraid of no ghost"), from Thrilling Life Stories for the Masses, 1892.  The caption reads, "'I'm not afraid of no old ghostesses,' said Harold."

Here's a precursor to Arrested Development's Tobias wondering what his daughter is thinking.  The subtitle reads, "She lives her life, and I get the pleasure of guessing what that might entail."  The precursor appears in The Lady's Manor by Emma Marshall, 1896.  Its caption reads, "What is my little girl thinking about?"

Here's a precursor to Sluggo's levitating hat, from The Up-to-Date Primer by John Wilson Bengough, 1896.

Here's a precursor to Mount Rushmore, from Walt Mason: His Book, 1916.  The caption reads, "Like some lone mountain in the starry night."

Here's a precursor to Flat Stanley, from Blasts from The Ram's Horn, 1902.

Here's a precursor to Escheresque architecture, from Geschichte Oesterreichs by Alexander Patuzzi, 1862 (thirty-six years before Escher was born).

Here's a precursor to TED Talks.  The caption reads, "The living hand on the screen, shown during the course of a lecture delivered by Henry Morton at the Academy of Music, New York, February 3, 1871."  From Morton Memorial by Franklin De Ronde Furman, 1905.

Here's a precursor to the "great dorg" of a film Mannequin (1987), from The Tinted Venus by J. Bernard Partridge, 1898.  The caption reads, "'It is a miserable thing,' he was thinking, 'for a man to have a female statue trotting after him like a great dorg.'"