Yamanoue no Okura

(c. 660 - c. 733)

Ovid

(43 BC - c. 17)

Photograph of American science writer Virginia Morell with dog.

Virginia Morell

Color portrait of Greek poet Anacreon.

Anacreon

(c. 582 BC - c. 485 BC)

Black and white image of Roman philosopher and statesman Seneca the Younger.

Seneca the Younger

(4 BC - 65)

Tamenaga Shunsui

(1790 - 1843)

Black and white image of German dramatist Heinrich von Kleist.

Heinrich von Kleist

(1777 - 1811)

Color portrait of Chinese writer and poet Han Yu.

Han Yu

(768 - 824)

Photograph of President Abraham Lincoln sitting in a chair.

Abraham Lincoln

(1809 - 1865)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Color photograph of American writer Mary Roach leaning on door.

Mary Roach

W.H. Auden

(1907 - 1973)

Photograph of Soviet Russian writer and journalist Vasily Grossman.

Vasily Grossman

(1905 - 1964)

Black and white image of Japanese haiku poet Kobayashi Issa.

Kobayashi Issa

(1763 - 1828)

Black and white photograph of Italian-born American anarchist Bartolomeo Vanzetti.

Bartolomeo Vanzetti

(1888 - 1927)

Mumon Gensen

(1323 - 1390)

Black and white photograph of Italian writer and chemist Primo Levi.

Primo Levi

(1919 - 1987)

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

(1817 - 1862)

Color photograph of American physician Jack Kevorkian.

Jack Kevorkian

(1928 - 2011)

Black and white photograph of critic and novelist Mary McCarthy.

Mary McCarthy

(1912 - 1989)

American writer Barbara Lazear Ascher.

Barbara Lazear Ascher

Black and white photograph of John Crowley sitting on a porch.

John Crowley

Color photograph of American poet and critic Paul Zweig.

Paul Zweig

(1935 - 1984)

Sculpture bust of Greek historian Herodotus.

Herodotus

(c. 484 BC - c. 425 BC)

Black and white photograph of Bolshevik officer Yakov Yurovsky.

Yakov Yurovsky

(1872 - 1938)

Photograph of American short-story writer and poet Edgar Allan Poe.

Edgar Allan Poe

(1809 - 1849)

Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller

(1923 - 1999)

Diodorus Siculus

(c. 90 BC - c. 20 BC)

Daniel Somers

(1983 - 2013)

Black and white photograph of English poet and librarian Philip Larkin.

Philip Larkin

(1922 - 1985)

Engraving of the medieval Arab traveler Ibn Battuta.

Ibn Battuta

(1304 - c. 1369)

American writer Philip Roth.

Philip Roth

(1933 - 2018)

Black and white photograph of Emily Dickinson sitting next to a desk.

Emily Dickinson

(1830 - 1886)

Black and white photograph of poet, diplomat, and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson.

James Weldon Johnson

(1871 - 1938)

Sculpture bust of Greek dramatist Euripides.

Euripides

(c. 484 BC - c. 406 BC)

Color portrait of English poet John Donne.

John Donne

(1572 - 1631)

Black and white of Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas.

Dylan Thomas

(1914 - 1953)

Black and white image of Persian lyric poet Hafez.

Hafez

(c. 1320 - c. 1390)

Black and white photograph of English writer Virginia Woolf.

Virginia Woolf

(1882 - 1941)

Black and white photograph of scholar, novelist, and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis.

C.S. Lewis

(1898 - 1963)

Black and white photograph of English writer and critic Lytton Strachey.

Lytton Strachey

(1880 - 1932)

Oil painting portrair Michel de Montaigne in red robes and white collar

Michel de Montaigne

(1533 - 1592)

Black and white photograph of Spanish filmmaker Luis Buñuel.

Luis Buñuel

(1900 - 1983)

Black and white photograph of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung seated with legs crossed.

C.G. Jung

(1875 - 1961)

Black and white photograph of American writer James Agee.

James Agee

(1909 - 1955)

Black and white photograph of former American Marine Guy Gabaldon.

Guy Gabaldon

(1926 - 2006)

Portrait of Chinese Daoist Zhuangzi.

Zhuangzi

(c. 369 BC - 286 BC)

Engraving of a bust of Lucretius.

Lucretius

(c. 95 BC - c. 50 BC)

Portrait bust of Greek dramatist Aeschylus.

Aeschylus

(c. 525 BC - 456 BC)

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

Color photograph of American writer Annie Dillard.

Annie Dillard

Black and white photograph of French writer and film director Marguerite Duras.

Marguerite Duras

(1914 - 1996)

Anyte

(c. 320 BC - c. 280 BC)

Painted portrait of Scottish philosopher David Hume.

David Hume

(1711 - 1776)

Black and white photograph of American Red Cross founder Clara Barton.

Clara Barton

(1821 - 1912)

Detail of mural featuring Jacobus de Voragine, archbishop of Genoa and chronicler.

Jacobus de Voragine

(c. 1230 - 1298)

Black and white image of English philosopher and political theorist John Stuart Mill.

John Stuart Mill

(1806 - 1873)

Black and white photograph of American poet and novelist Sylvia Plath.

Sylvia Plath

(1932 - 1963)

Black and white photograph of English writer and traveler Gertrude Bell.

Gertrude Bell

(1868 - 1926)

Color engraving of Italian poet, scholar, and humanist Petrarch.

Petrarch

(1304 - 1374)

Black and white photograph of Italian novelist Italo Svevo.

Italo Svevo

(1861 - 1928)

Painting of Greek philosopher Heraclitus weeping over a globe.

Heraclitus

(c. 540 BC - c. 480 BC)

Ibn Fadlan

(c. 900 - c. 922)

Photograph of American editor Brent Cunningham.

Brent Cunningham

Black and white photograph of French novelist, essayist, and playwright Albert Camus.

Albert Camus

(1913 - 1960)

Fresco of Franciscan friar and traveler Giovanni da Pian del Carpine.

Giovanni da Pian del Carpini

(c. 1180 - 1252)

Color image of English novelist Charlotte Brontë with book in hand.

Charlotte Brontë

(1816 - 1855)

Black and white photograph of Russian author Leo Tolstoy.

Leo Tolstoy

(1828 - 1910)

Black and white photograph of American poet Sharon Olds.

Sharon Olds

Photograph of American author and editor Bess Lovejoy.

Bess Lovejoy

Black and white photograph of American writer and critic Anatole Broyard.

Anatole Broyard

(1920 - 1990)

Black and white photograph of American surgeon and author Sherwin Nuland.

Sherwin Nuland

(1930 - 2014)

Color photograph of Russian multimillionaire Dmitry Itskov.

Dmitry Itskov

Black and white print of English politician, essayist, and historian Thomas Babington Macaulay.

Thomas Babington Macaulay

(1800 - 1859)

Black and white engraving of Roman author Petronius.

Gaius Petronius Arbiter

(c. 27 - 66)

Black and white photograph of English poet Robert Browning seated.

Robert Browning

(1812 - 1889)

Black and white of photograph of American writer Michael Herr standing.

Michael Herr

Painted portrait of English physician and author Thomas Browne.

Thomas Browne

(1605 - 1682)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham