From The Riverside Magazine for Young People, 1870.  See How to Believe in Your Elf.

"The elf listening to the voice from the tree."  From Friends and Foes from Fairy Land by Lord Brabourne and illustrated by Linley Sambourne, 1886.   See also How to Believe in Your Elf.

A [poor scan of a] brownie trap from St. Nicholas, 1898.   See How to Believe in Your Elf.

From Der Orchideengarten, 1920.

Reblog if you, too, have had to hide yourself within the food you were gorging upon.  "A piece of Harry's large picture."  From The Riverside Magazine for Young People, 1870.  The text reads, "But while I was eating still with undiminished relish, I heard that somebody was at the door.  In the perplexity of the moment I did not know where to conceal myself, when, fortunately or unfortunately, I jumped into the large hole which I had cut into the pie, squatted down, and shut the lid over my head."

From Imaginotions: Truthless Tales by Tudor Jenks, 1894.  See How to Believe in Your Elf.

From The Moorish Gold and The One-Eyed Servant by Jean Ingelow, 1867.  See How to Believe in Your Elf.

"He was caught beneath the cover of the book."  From Imaginotions: Truthless Tales by Tudor Jenks, 1894.

"Pixy, Brownie, Elf and Sprite / All are on their rounds tonight.  Forget your cares.  Awakened be.  Join in the fun and impish glee."  Date uncertain.  This should also be of interest: How to Believe in Your Elf.

It's always a fitful night's rest when the wee folk demand autonomy.  From Kladderadatsch, 1928.  See How to Believe in Your Elf.

Google incorrectly scanned these Greek letters as "elf," but -- and this may surprise you! -- the sentence reads correctly that way, too.  If you take an elf away, you deprive a word of its significant part.  From Lexilogus by Philipp Carl Buttmann, 1836.   Important: see How to Believe in Your Elf.

"He pretended to yawn."  From Imaginotions: Truthless Tales by Tudor Jenks, 1894.