The earliest use of it in print that I can find is from The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, 1833. It is from a "paper" titled "The Story of Hester Malpas," by L.E.L.:
Hester now looked at her aunt, who was the very reverse of what she had imagined : she had always thought she would be like her father, and fancied a tall, dark, and handsome face.