Engraving of Roman poet Horace.

Horace

(65 BC - 8 BC)

Philip Drake

(c. 1790 - c. 1857)

Moses Smith

(1783 - 1870)

Color portrait of English poet John Donne.

John Donne

(1572 - 1631)

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)

Photograph of Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson

(1907 - 1964)

Black and white photograph of Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson.

Robert Louis Stevenson

(1850 - 1894)

Jack Thayer

(1894 - 1945)

Charles Sprawson

(1941 - 2020)

Photograph of American dramatist Edward Albee.

Edward Albee

(1928 - 2016)

Black and white photograph of Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva.

Marina Tsvetaeva

(1892 - 1941)

Author and journalist Caroline Alexander.

Caroline Alexander

Anyte

(c. 320 BC - c. 280 BC)

Photograph of American novelist Maggie Shipstead.

Maggie Shipstead

Photograph of British writer and journalist Simon Winchester.

Simon Winchester

Photograph of American novelist Katherine Anne Porter.

Katherine Anne Porter

(1890 - 1980)

Engraving of Scottish economist Adam Smith.

Adam Smith

(1723 - 1790)

Photograph of American writer and naturalist Henry Beston.

Henry Beston

(1888 - 1968)

Image of Japanese poet Kakinomoto Hitomaro.

Kakinomoto Hitomaro

(c. 662 - c. 708)

Engraving of Italian adventurer Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri.

Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri

(1651 - 1725)

Photograph of American writer Lawrence Wright.

Lawrence Wright

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

Homer

(c. 800 BC - 725 BC)

T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot

(1888 - 1965)

Sculpture bust of Greek historian Herodotus.

Herodotus

(c. 484 BC - c. 425 BC)

Photograph of English novelist John Fowles.

John Fowles

(1926 - 2005)

Image of American lawyer and autobiographer Richard Henry Dana Jr.

Richard Henry Dana Jr.

(1815 - 1882)

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

M.F.K. Fisher

(1908 - 1992)

Engraving of the medieval Arab traveler Ibn Battuta.

Ibn Battuta

(1304 - c. 1369)

Painting of an older Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

(1770 - 1831)

Painting of François Rabelais.

François Rabelais

(1494 - 1553)

Image of Chinese poet Bai Juyi.

Bai Juyi

(772 - 846)

Janet Schaw

(c. 1731 - c. 1801)

Photograph of Scottish physician James Lowson.

James Lowson

(1866 - 1935)

Image of English journalist and sociologist Henry Mayhew.

Henry Mayhew

(1812 - 1887)

Photograph of West Indian poet and playwright Derek Walcott.

Derek Walcott

(1930 - 2017)

Image of medieval traveler Sir John Mandeville.

John Mandeville

(c. 1300 - 1371)

Portrait bust of Roman poet Virgil.

Virgil

(70 BC - 19 BC)

Photograph of American novelist Kate Chopin.

Kate Chopin

(1851 - 1904)

Image of Japanese haiku poet Matsuo Bashō.

Matsuo Basho

(1644 - 1694)

Photograph of former U.S. President Millard Fillmore.

Millard Fillmore

(1800 - 1874)

Photograph of American writer and translator Lafcadio Hearn.

Lafcadio Hearn

(1850 - 1904)

Photograph of American oceanographer Charles Moore.

Charles Moore

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

Charlotte Brontë

(1816 - 1855)

Manuscript image of St. Bede.

Saint Bede

(c. 673 - 735)

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

Joseph Conrad

(1857 - 1924)

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 American dramatist Eugene O’Neill.

Eugene O’Neill

(1888 - 1953)

Photograph of British writer Richard Hughes.

Richard Hughes

(1900 - 1976)

Portrait of West African writer and former slave Olaudah Equiano.

Olaudah Equiano

(c. 1745 - 1797)

Black and white photograph of American poet Marianne Moore.

Marianne Moore

(1887 - 1972)

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

Benjamin Franklin

(1706 - 1790)

Photograph of American journalist Sebastian Junger.

Sebastian Junger

Painted portrait of Italian navigator Christopher Columbus.

Christopher Columbus

(1451 - 1506)

Orderic Vitalis

(1075 - c. 1142)

Photograph of English novelist Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens

(1812 - 1870)

Portrait of English novelist and poet Charlotte Smith.

Charlotte Smith

(1749 - 1806)

Engraving of Pliny the Elder.

Pliny the Elder

(23 - 79)

Photograph of Italian writer Italo Calvino.

Italo Calvino

(1923 - 1985)

Black and white photograph of American novelist John Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck

(1902 - 1968)

Engraving of Portuguese poet Luís de Camões.

Luís de Camões

(c. 1525 - 1580)

Photograph of American writer William Langewiesche.

William Langewiesche

Photograph of English literary historian and critic Edmund Gosse.

Edmund Gosse

(1849 - 1928)

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

Lewis Carroll

(1832 - 1898)

Painting of English privateer Woodes Rogers.

Woodes Rogers

(c. 1679 - 1732)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

Painted portrait of British explorer James Cook.

James Cook

(1728 - 1779)

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

W.G. Sebald

(1944 - 2001)

Black and white image of American writer Herman Melville.

Herman Melville

(1819 - 1891)

Jules Verne

Jules Verne

(1828 - 1905)

Achilles Tatius

(c. 200 - c. 250)

Gabriel García Márquez

(1927 - 2014)

Engraving of Greek satirist Lucian.

Lucian

(125 - c. 180)

Photograph of British historian and diplomat James Bryce.

James Bryce

(1838 - 1922)

Photograph of British explorer and surgeon G. Murray Levick.

G. Murray Levick

(1876 - 1956)

Photograph of French writer Guy de Maupassant.

Guy de Maupassant

(1850 - 1893)

Photograph of Sri Lankan memoirist and economist Sonali Deraniyagala.

Sonali Deraniyagala

Color photograph of French oceanic explorer Jacques Cousteau in parka.

Jacques Cousteau

(1910 - 1997)