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."

"Look at the sun blazing there among the peaks, too blinding almost for our eyes.  See how he touches the mountaintops and how they dissolve into fire at his touch.  Some day, I tell you, he will burn as we please and spin at our command.  He will be our servant, our convenience, our instrument.  He will be the fire before our door, the light of our first home as we spread out our power and our blood farther and farther amidst the stars."
—H.G. Wells, "The World Set Free"

An illustration from a 1913 issue of Century Illustrated magazine.