Image of Japanese haiku poet Matsuo Bashō.

Matsuo Basho

(1644 - 1694)

Engraving of the medieval Arab traveler Ibn Battuta.

Ibn Battuta

(1304 - c. 1369)

Photograph of English novelist John Fowles.

John Fowles

(1926 - 2005)

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

Photograph of traveler and writer Isabella Bird.

Isabella Bird

(1831 - 1904)

Photograph of English novelist Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens

(1812 - 1870)

Achilles Tatius

(c. 200 - c. 250)

Photograph of Sri Lankan memoirist and economist Sonali Deraniyagala.

Sonali Deraniyagala

Painting of English privateer Woodes Rogers.

Woodes Rogers

(c. 1679 - 1732)

Photograph of West Indian poet and playwright Derek Walcott.

Derek Walcott

(1930 - 2017)

Sepia toned photograph of Lewis Carroll in a suit, reading a book

Lewis Carroll

(1832 - 1898)

Photograph of British writer and journalist Simon Winchester.

Simon Winchester

Photograph of American writer and naturalist Henry Beston.

Henry Beston

(1888 - 1968)

Image of Japanese poet Kakinomoto Hitomaro.

Kakinomoto Hitomaro

(c. 662 - c. 708)

Portrait bust of Roman poet Virgil.

Virgil

(70 BC - 19 BC)

Photograph of British writer Richard Hughes.

Richard Hughes

(1900 - 1976)

Engraving of Italian adventurer Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri.

Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri

(1651 - 1725)

Painting of François Rabelais.

François Rabelais

(1494 - 1553)

Painting of Benjamin Franklin reading a batch of papers next to a classical bust.

Benjamin Franklin

(1706 - 1790)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Photograph of African-American poet and writer Langston Hughes.

Langston Hughes

(1902 - 1967)

Portrait of English novelist and poet Charlotte Smith.

Charlotte Smith

(1749 - 1806)

Author and journalist Caroline Alexander.

Caroline Alexander

Charles Sprawson

(1941 - 2020)

Portrait of West African writer and former slave Olaudah Equiano.

Olaudah Equiano

(c. 1745 - 1797)

Photograph of former U.S. President Millard Fillmore.

Millard Fillmore

(1800 - 1874)

Image of Chinese poet Bai Juyi.

Bai Juyi

(772 - 846)

Philip Drake

(c. 1790 - c. 1857)

Black and white photograph of American novelist John Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck

(1902 - 1968)

Janet Schaw

(c. 1731 - c. 1801)

Color portrait of English poet John Donne.

John Donne

(1572 - 1631)

Image of English journalist and sociologist Henry Mayhew.

Henry Mayhew

(1812 - 1887)

Black and white photograph of Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson.

Robert Louis Stevenson

(1850 - 1894)

Jules Verne

Jules Verne

(1828 - 1905)

Color photograph of French oceanic explorer Jacques Cousteau in parka.

Jacques Cousteau

(1910 - 1997)

Photograph of German-English novelist W.G. Sebald.

W.G. Sebald

(1944 - 2001)

Manuscript image of St. Bede.

Saint Bede

(c. 673 - 735)

Photograph of American food writer M.F.K. Fisher with cat.

M.F.K. Fisher

(1908 - 1992)

T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot

(1888 - 1965)

Engraving of Pliny the Elder.

Pliny the Elder

(23 - 79)

Black and white image of American writer Herman Melville.

Herman Melville

(1819 - 1891)

Photograph of French writer Guy de Maupassant.

Guy de Maupassant

(1850 - 1893)

Gabriel García Márquez

(1927 - 2014)

Painting of an older Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

(1770 - 1831)

Photograph of Italian writer Italo Calvino.

Italo Calvino

(1923 - 1985)

Painted portrait of Italian navigator Christopher Columbus.

Christopher Columbus

(1451 - 1506)

Portrait bust of presumed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey Homer.

Homer

(c. 800 BC - 725 BC)

Engraving of Roman poet Horace.

Horace

(65 BC - 8 BC)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

Moses Smith

(1783 - 1870)

Image of medieval traveler Sir John Mandeville.

John Mandeville

(c. 1300 - 1371)

Black and white photograph of Polish-born English writer Joseph Conrad.

Joseph Conrad

(1857 - 1924)

Photograph of American dramatist Eugene O’Neill.

Eugene O’Neill

(1888 - 1953)

Anyte

(c. 320 BC - c. 280 BC)

Photograph of American writer William Langewiesche.

William Langewiesche

Orderic Vitalis

(1075 - c. 1142)

Painted portrait of British explorer James Cook.

James Cook

(1728 - 1779)

Photograph of British historian and diplomat James Bryce.

James Bryce

(1838 - 1922)

Photograph of American novelist Katherine Anne Porter.

Katherine Anne Porter

(1890 - 1980)

Photograph of American oceanographer Charles Moore.

Charles Moore

Photograph of American journalist Sebastian Junger.

Sebastian Junger

Photograph of American novelist Maggie Shipstead.

Maggie Shipstead

Image of American lawyer and autobiographer Richard Henry Dana Jr.

Richard Henry Dana Jr.

(1815 - 1882)

Photograph of American writer and translator Lafcadio Hearn.

Lafcadio Hearn

(1850 - 1904)

Black and white photograph of Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva.

Marina Tsvetaeva

(1892 - 1941)

Jack Thayer

(1894 - 1945)

Engraving of Portuguese poet Luís de Camões.

Luís de Camões

(c. 1525 - 1580)

Photograph of British explorer and surgeon G. Murray Levick.

G. Murray Levick

(1876 - 1956)

Engraving of Greek satirist Lucian.

Lucian

(125 - c. 180)

Photograph of American writer Lawrence Wright.

Lawrence Wright

Photograph of American novelist Kate Chopin.

Kate Chopin

(1851 - 1904)

Photograph of Scottish physician James Lowson.

James Lowson

(1866 - 1935)

Photograph of American dramatist Edward Albee.

Edward Albee

(1928 - 2016)

Photograph of English literary historian and critic Edmund Gosse.

Edmund Gosse

(1849 - 1928)

Engraving of Scottish economist Adam Smith.

Adam Smith

(1723 - 1790)

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

Charlotte Brontë

(1816 - 1855)

Black and white photograph of American poet Marianne Moore.

Marianne Moore

(1887 - 1972)

Sculpture bust of Greek historian Herodotus.

Herodotus

(c. 484 BC - c. 425 BC)

Photograph of Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson

(1907 - 1964)