We disagree with [The Magnetic Fields'] Stephin Merritt that "do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do ... are nonsense syllables." We also disagree that "There are only two, arguably three, one-letter words" (as we elaborately demonstrate in our dictionary of one-letter words). But live and let live. And his book, illustrated by the illustrious Roz Chast, is called 101 Two-Letter Words.  (Pictured below, Prof. Oddfellow measures magnetic fields in honor of Stephin Merritt.)

Pictured first is an ancient precursor to the Rabbit-Duck Illusion (1892), excavated from the Hopewell Mound City Group in Ohio and depicted in The Antiquarian (1897).

From Midsummer Eve by S. C. Hall, 1870.

From The Baby's Museum by Uncle Charlie, 1882.

Here's a precursor to the 'couch potato' phenomenon of the 1970s, from Bachelor Ballads and Other Lazy Lyrics by Harry Spurr and illustrated by J. Hassall (1899).

A rose is a rose or a nose: A deficit in initial letter identification.

"On a topographical map of Literature Nonsense would be represented by a small and sparsely settled country, neglected by the average tourist, but affording keen delight to the few enlightened travellers who sojourn within its borders." —Carolyn Wells, A Nonsense Anthology, 1910

Q: What happened to the moon in 1740? (asks Gary Barwin, author of the celebrated Moon Baboon Canoe)

From Lays and Legends of the Weald of Kent by Lilian Winser and illustrated by Margaret Winser, 1897.

Call it a hunch, call it paranoia, call it what you like.

From Nasby in Exile by David Ross Locke, 1882.

A close encounter with a Grey from Eaglehawk and Crow A Study of the Australian Aborigines by John Mathew (1899).

"Party animal" traces back to 1982 (if you trust Merriam-Webster), but here are some true party animals depicted in Broadside Black-letter Ballads, Printed in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, edited by John Payne Collier, 1868.

"I told you to get into pictures!" Heffy huffed.  "Not this nonsense."
Mariel spoke up.  "Look, Sid, someone has to provide the nonsense, now that you’ve been called to a higher art."
—Jeremy Edwards, The Pleasure Dial

From The Ingoldsby Legends by Thomas Ingoldsby, 1881.

Here's a precursor to Bonnie and Clyde being riddled with bullet holes, from Film Flashes: The Wit and Humor of a Nation in Pictures, 1916.

The lady with a pig's head, from The Book of Days by Robert Chambers, 1864.