"By some means, however, they got to the sky, / And found the Sun throned in his palace on high."  From Thoughts and Fancies by John Cotton, 1897.

"The waning polar day, 22nd September 1893. Pastel sketch. (The original was injured by damp.)" From Farthest North by Fridtjof Nansen, 1897.

From London Bridge to Lombardy by a Mmacadamised Route by W. R. Richardson, 1869.

An illustration from Premiers Voyages Au Pays Des Glaces by Charles Baye (1888).

Here's a precursor to the dual suns of Star Wars' Tatooine, from Object Lessons in Geography for Standards I, II, & III by Thomas Francis George Dexter (1899).

"But yonder beam forbids me to despair": from Sir Walter Raleigh: A Tragedy by William John Dixon, 1897.

Here's a precursor to the Teletubbies sun, from Lilliput Lyrics by William Brighty Rands, 1899.

An illustration from The Mahatma and the Hare: A Dream Story by H. Rider Haggard (1911).  The caption reads: "Guided, guarded by the spirits of dead suns."

An illustration from Etidorhpa, or The Strange History of a Mysterious Being and the Account of the Initiate's Remarkable Journey by John Uri Lloyd (1895).  The caption reads: "This struggling ray of sunlight is to be your last for years."

Here's a surprising bit of Hermeticism from Arthur's Illustrated Home Magazine, 1885.  A lady faces the setting sun and transmits a thought-message toward the light as she touches a dog's head.  The Greek god Hermes (a.k.a. the Roman Mercury and the Egyptian Thoth) is a solar messenger.  The Egyptians of course represented him with a dog's head.

Science holds a match to the sun: an illustration from an 1883 issue of Punch magazine.

The North Pole enjoys a nightcap with the midnight sun: an illustration from an 1896 issue of Punch magazine.

An illustration from a 1905 issue of Metropolitan magazine.

An illustration from a 1911 issue of Scribner's magazine.  The caption reads: "He turned and faced the rising sun, the light full on his face."

On this day in history—Sunset at the equator on May 15, 1902.  An illustration from a 1903 issue of Century Illustrated magazine.

An illustration from a 1909 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The headline reads: "His only rival."

Staring into the depths: an illustration from a 1906 issue of Cosmopolitan magazine.  The caption reads: "I stood up and met the hot summons of the rising sun, hurrying toward me, as it were, with glad tidings, over the spikes of barley."