Black and white photograph of Russian author Leo Tolstoy.

Leo Tolstoy

(1828 - 1910)

Image from Codex Manesse depicting a tournament of knights.

Chrétien de Troyes

(c. 1165 - c. 1180)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

Portrait of British poet Lord Byron.

Lord Byron

(1788 - 1824)

A.G. Spalding

(1850 - 1915)

Color photograph of American writer Annie Dillard.

Annie Dillard

Photograph of pilot, horse trainer, writer, and adventurer Beryl Markham on horseback.

Beryl Markham

(1902 - 1986)

Dutch historian Johan Huizinga.

Johan Huizinga

(1872 - 1945)

Pindar

(c. 518 BC - c. 438 BC)

Statue depicting Roman orator and historian Tacitus.

Tacitus

(56 - c. 120)

Black and white photograph of American novelist John Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck

(1902 - 1968)

Damon Runyon

(1880 - 1946)

Black and white photograph of Mencken looking over his shoulder at the camera

H.L. Mencken

(1880 - 1956)

Izaak Walton

(1593 - 1683)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

George Catlin

(1769 - 1872)

Bacchylides

(c. 510 BC - c. 452 BC)

John McPhee

Engraving of Roman author and administrator Pliny the Younger.

Pliny the Younger

(61 - 112)

Simon Apter

Chuck Palahniuk

American basketball player Charles Barkley.

Charles Barkley

Dio Chrysostom

(c. 40 - c. 120)

American baseball player Yogi Berra.

Yogi Berra

(1925 - 2015)

Pierre de Coubertin

(1863 - 1937)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Black and white image of American writer Herman Melville.

Herman Melville

(1819 - 1891)

George Plimpton

George Plimpton

(1927 - 2003)

Matthew C. Perry

(1794 - 1858)

Blaise Pascal

(1623 - 1662)

Hakeem Olajuwon

Beth Raymer

Eduardo Galeano

(1940 - 2015)

Portrait bust of Roman poet Virgil.

Virgil

(70 BC - 19 BC)

Image of French writer Honoré de Balzac with hand on chest.

Honoré de Balzac

(1799 - 1850)

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Henry Ford

(1863 - 1947)

Richard Ford

Sculpture bust of Greek historian Herodotus.

Herodotus

(c. 484 BC - c. 425 BC)

Abul-Fazl

(1551 - 1602)

Cecil Tyndale-Biscoe

(1863 - 1949)

Yusef Komunyakaa

Ovid

(43 BC - c. 17)

Black and white photograph of Ryszard Kapuściński holding a book.

Ryszard Kapuściński

(1932 - 2007)

Italian courtier, diplomat, and writer Baldassare Castiglione.

Baldassare Castiglione

(1478 - 1529)

American journalist A. J. Liebling.

A.J. Liebling

(1904 - 1963)

Charles Simic

Saint Augustine (detail), by Philippe de Champaigne, c. 1645.

Saint Augustine

(354 - 430)

Black and white image of English scholar, writer, and clergyman Robert Burton.

Robert Burton

(1577 - 1640)

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

Lewis Carroll

(1832 - 1898)

Lou Gehrig

(1903 - 1941)

Statue of the Persian poet Ferdowsi.

Ferdowsi

(c. 935 - c. 1020)

Cuban chess player José Raúl Capablanca.

José Raúl Capablanca

(1888 - 1942)

Polybius

(c. 200 BC - c. 120 BC)

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

John Crowley

British historian Edward Gibbon.

Edward Gibbon

(1737 - 1794)

Eric Nesterenko

Portrait of King James I.

James I

(1566 - 1625)

Photograph of Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov

(1899 - 1977)

Norman Maclean

(1902 - 1990)

Mosaic portrait of a bearded man in red holding a book

Marco Polo

(1254 - 1324)

Darcy Frey

Henry Newbolt

(1862 - 1938)

American poet William Carlos Williams.

William Carlos Williams

(1883 - 1963)

Engraving of Greek satirist Lucian.

Lucian

(125 - c. 180)

American writer Philip Roth.

Philip Roth

(1933 - 2018)

American editor Terry McDonell.

Terry McDonell

James Wright

(1927 - 1980)

Photograph of William Faulkner sitting in a chair.

William Faulkner

(1897 - 1962)

Vince Lombardi

(1913 - 1970)

Mikhail Lermontov

(1814 - 1841)

American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

(1919 - 2021)

P.G. Wodehouse

(1881 - 1975)

David Grann

Jay Griffiths

Ernest Hemingway standing between two large hanging fish

Ernest Hemingway

(1899 - 1961)

A.E. Housman

(1859 - 1936)

Black and white photograph of former President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt.

Theodore Roosevelt

(1858 - 1919)

Victor Heiser

(1873 - 1972)

American poet, journalist, and essayist Walt Whitman.

Walt Whitman

(1819 - 1892)

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

Mark Twain

(1835 - 1910)

Photograph by Cliff (CC BY 2.0).

Andre Agassi

Author and journalist Caroline Alexander.

Caroline Alexander

Gary Paulsen

Roger Bannister

(1929 - 2018)