Here's a precursor to Annie Dillard's Teaching a Stone to Talk (1982), from St. Nicholas magazine (1915).  The text reads, "Is a stone alive?"

Here's a precursor to invitation-only blogs.  "He called aloud to me not to disturb his webs," from Gulliver's Travels.

Here's a precursor to the buffet sneeze guard, from The Prince of Wales' Tour by William Howard Russell, 1877.

Here's the immortal Christopher Lee eleven years before he faked his birth.  From Shakespeare on the Stage by William Winter, 1911.

Here's a precursor to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, from The Western World by William Henry Giles Kingston, 1874.  The caption reads, "A cloud of pigeons."

Here's a precursor to Hollywood's favorite fake lounge act, The Lampshades, from Young Americans in Japan by Edward Greey, 1882.

Here's a precursor to Disney's Tower of Terror attraction.

Here's a precursor to the traditional mayhem at Walmart on Black Friday, from St. Nicholas magazine, 1921.

Here's a precursor to the maxim that "it is better to look good than to feel good," from The Oxford Thackeray.  The caption reads, "And upon me honour and conshience, now I'm dthressed, but I look intirely ginteel."

You've heard of "throwing someone to the wolves," but did you know the practice was a precursor to Daylight Savings?  The caption reads, "Threw them to the wolves to gain time."  From A Boyar of the Terrible by Frederick J. Whishaw, 1896.

Here's a precursor to Bewitched, as if Tabitha's future grandchild were speaking:

Here's a vintage example of the idiom "you'll eat your words," from Young Americans in Japan by Edward Greey, 1882.

Here's a rare view of the backside of a halo, or perhaps a precursor to Margaret Atwood's "halo in reverse" (Lady Oracle, 1987), from Im Reiche des Aeolus by Adolph von Pereira, 1883.

Here's a precursor to our world of misinformation, from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain.

Here's a precursor to the Teletubbies, from a camera advertisement in The Pharmaceutical Era, 1887.

Here's a precursor to Australian absurdist pantomime performer Grahame Bond (of "Aunty Jack" fame), from A Series of Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings by John Kay, 1877.

The idiom "wearing two [or many] hats" has been traced back to the Civil Service in 1950s England, though we know it actually goes back at least to 1884's A History of the Cries of London, Ancient and Modern by Charles Hindley.

Here's a precursor to that Fawlty Towers scene about life in California: "You can swim and sunbathe, and then after lunch, drive up into the mountains and ski."  From Roughing It by Mark Twain.

Here's a precursor to Meher Baba's "Don't worry, be happy," from Southerly Busters by Ironbark, 1878.