Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, and writer Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Marcus Tullius Cicero

(106 BC - 43 BC)

English essayist, poet, and dramatist Joseph Addison.

Joseph Addison

(1672 - 1719)

Photograph of English novelist Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens

(1812 - 1870)

American author of fiction, nonfiction and poetry Charles Baxter.

Charles Baxter

William Makepeace Thackeray

(1811 - 1863)

Photograph of Marcel Proust looking pensive.

Marcel Proust

(1871 - 1922)

Juvenal

(c. 60 - c. 130)

American historian Daniel Boorstin.

Daniel Boorstin

(1914 - 2004)

French writer, critic, and book publisher Edmond de Goncourt.

Edmond Goncourt

(1822 - 1896)

British beauty and actress Lillie Langtry.

Lillie Langtry

(1853 - 1929)

Italian poet and scholar Giovanni Boccaccio.

Giovanni Boccaccio

(1313 - 1375)

American poet John Berryman.

John Berryman

(1914 - 1972)

American non-fiction writer David Samuels.

David Samuels

American poet Wallace Stevens.

Wallace Stevens

(1879 - 1955)

Photograph of William Faulkner sitting in a chair.

William Faulkner

(1897 - 1962)

American television critic Emily Nussbaum.

Emily Nussbaum

British historian Edward Gibbon.

Edward Gibbon

(1737 - 1794)

Painted portrait of second President of the United States John Adams.

John Adams

(1735 - 1826)

American author Truman Capote.

Truman Capote

(1924 - 1984)

Ovid

(43 BC - c. 17)

British writer Muriel Spark.

Muriel Spark

(1918 - 2006)

American critic, poet, and resident of Norway Bruce Bawer.

Bruce Bawer

Painted portrait of British statesman and political thinker Edmund Burke.

Edmund Burke

(1729 - 1797)

English Canadian author Tom Rachman.

Tom Rachman

Sepia colored photo of Oscar Wilde sitting on a rock with a book in his hand

Oscar Wilde

(1854 - 1900)

American writer Philip Roth.

Philip Roth

(1933 - 2018)

Dio Cassius

(c. 150 - 235)

Image of French poet François Villon.

François Villon

(1431 - c. 1463)

American actor, screenwriter, and producer Matt Damon.

Matt Damon

American showman P.T. Barnum.

P.T. Barnum

(1810 - 1891)

French poet and author Christine de Pisan.

Christine de Pisan

(1364 - c. 1430)

Italian Christian theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas.

Thomas Aquinas

(c. 1224 - 1274)

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

German poet Heinrich Heine.

Heinrich Heine

(1797 - 1856)

Black and white photograph of a young F. Scott Fitzgerald sitting at a desk.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

(1896 - 1940)

Portrait of English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

(1792 - 1822)

Black and white photograph of English writer Virginia Woolf.

Virginia Woolf

(1882 - 1941)

British scholar and military officer T.E. Lawrence.

T.E. Lawrence

(1888 - 1935)

Yugoslav novelist Danilo Kiš.

Danilo Kiš

(1935 - 1989)

Arrian

(c. 86 - c. 160)

Photograph of German sociologist and political economist Max Weber.

Max Weber

(1864 - 1920)

American critic Edmund Wilson.

Edmund Wilson

(1895 - 1972)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

American novelist John Dos Passos.

John Dos Passos

(1896 - 1970)

Black and white photograph of Russian author Leo Tolstoy.

Leo Tolstoy

(1828 - 1910)

Pastel drawing of George Eliot.

George Eliot

(1819 - 1880)

Photograph of English professor and author Andrew McConnell Stott.

Andrew McConnell Stott

American writer Tad Friend.

Tad Friend

Photograph of American writer and professor Paul Collins.

Paul Collins

American musician, songwriter, and co-founder of Mötley Crüe Nikki Sixx.

Nikki Sixx

American assassin John Hinckley Jr.

John Hinckley Jr.

Black and white photograph of a young Mark Twain with dark hair.

Mark Twain

(1835 - 1910)

English poet and satirist Alexander Pope.

Alexander Pope

(1688 - 1744)

American aviator Charles Lindbergh.

Charles Lindbergh

(1902 - 1974)

John Lennon

(1940 - 1980)

English poet, novelist, and classicist Robert Graves.

Robert Graves

(1895 - 1985)

Portrait of British poet Lord Byron.

Lord Byron

(1788 - 1824)

British surgeon Frederick Treves.

Fredrick Treves

(1853 - 1923)

Black and white photograph of political scientist and philosopher Hannah Arendt holding a cigarette.

Hannah Arendt

(1906 - 1975)

Image of Japanese poet and essayist Yoshida Kenko.

Yoshida Kenko

(c. 1283 - c. 1351)

French critic Roland Barthes.

Roland Barthes

(1915 - 1980)

American writer Saul Bellow.

Saul Bellow

(1915 - 2005)

Chinese American writer Yiyun Li.

Yiyun Li

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

Emily Dickinson

(1830 - 1886)

New York-based author Suketu Mehta.

Suketu Mehta

Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes.

Miguel de Cervantes

(1547 - 1616)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Engraving of Roman author and administrator Pliny the Younger.

Pliny the Younger

(61 - 112)

American author Tom Wolfe.

Tom Wolfe

(1931 - 2018)

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

Michel de Montaigne

(1533 - 1592)

John Tresch

James Baldwin

(1924 - 1987)

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift

(1667 - 1745)

black and white photo of Steve Martin wearing a white dinner jacket and black tie

Steve Martin

Canadian writer Stephen Marche.

Stephen Marche

Portrait of English writer Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mary Wollstonecraft

(1759 - 1797)

Suetonius

(69 - c. 130)

American songwriters Burt Bacharach & Hal David.

Burt Bacharach & Hal David

Depiction of Greek philosopher Plato.

Plato

(c. 427 BC - c. 347 BC)

English writer and essayist William Hazlitt.

William Hazlitt

(1778 - 1830)

American social reformer Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson

(1823 - 1911)

Valerius Maximus

(c. 20 BC - c. 50 BC)

American poet Frank O’Hara.

Frank O’Hara

(1926 - 1966)

Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto.

Ludovico Ariosto

(1474 - 1533)

Ur-Nammu

(2112 BC - 2095 BC)

Andy Warhol

(1928 - 1987)

Portrait of Francis Bacon in sixteenth-century armor.

Francis Bacon

(1561 - 1626)

Frontispiece for 1612-13 King James Bible.

The Bible

Bob Dylan

Image of Scottish poet, journalist, and author Charles Mackay.

Charles Mackay

(1814 - 1889)

Portrait of English poet John Keats.

John Keats

(1795 - 1821)

Portrait of English wit and poet John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester with monkey.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

(1647 - 1680)

Italian artist and author Giorgio Vasari.

Giorgio Vasari

(1511 - 1574)

Joan Didion

(1934 - 2021)

Black and white photograph of American writer and exponent of Transcendentalism Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(1803 - 1882)

English writer Christopher Marlowe.

Christopher Marlowe

(1564 - 1593)