British author Angela Carter.

Angela Carter

(1940 - 1992)

British author Philip Pullman.

Philip Pullman

Russian writer Yuri Olesha.

Yuri Olesha

(1899 - 1960)

English essayist, novelist, journalist, and historian Harriet Martineau.

Harriet Martineau

(1802 - 1876)

Neoplatonist Greek philosopher Porphyry.

Porphyry

(c. 234 - c. 305)

Austrian explorer and writer Heinrich Harrer.

Heinrich Harrer

(1912 - 2006)

Lady Sarashina

(c. 1008 - c. 1059)

American author and journalist Jamie James.

Jamie James

Photograph of American writer and translator Lafcadio Hearn.

Lafcadio Hearn

(1850 - 1904)

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

Michel de Montaigne

(1533 - 1592)

Photograph of Colin Dickey standing in front of a brick wall.

Colin Dickey

American illusionist Teller.

Teller

French-American author J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur.

J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur

(1735 - 1813)

Russian spiritualist Helena Blavatsky.

Helena Blavatsky

(1831 - 1891)

Sculpture bust of Greek dramatist Euripides.

Euripides

(c. 484 BC - c. 406 BC)

Tapestry depiction of King Arthur.

Thomas Malory

(c. 1416 - c. 1471)

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

Jacobus de Voragine

(c. 1230 - 1298)

American songwriters Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller.

Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller

(c. 1950 - 2011)

American author H.P. Lovecraft.

H.P. Lovecraft

(1890 - 1937)

Psychologist and writer Lauren Slater.

Lauren Slater

Novelist and psychiatrist Daniel Mason.

Daniel Mason

American author Steven Millhauser.

Steven Millhauser

Portrait of English physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton.

Isaac Newton

(1643 - 1727)

Ukrainian-born Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol.

Nikolai Gogol

(1809 - 1852)

Image of Platonic philosopher, rhetorician, and author Lucius Apuleius.

Lucius Apuleius

(c. 124 - c. 171)

Statue depicting Roman orator and historian Tacitus.

Tacitus

(56 - c. 120)

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

Edgar Allan Poe

(1809 - 1849)

Depiction of Chinese philosopher Mozi.

Mozi

(c. 470 BC - c. 391 BC)

Painting of Persian Muslim poet Farid ud-Din Attar.

Farid ud-Din Attar

(c. 1142 - c. 1220)

Painted portrait of Scottish philosopher David Hume.

David Hume

(1711 - 1776)

English dramatist, writer, and poet Aphra Behn.

Aphra Behn

(1640 - 1689)

Engraving of Greek satirist Lucian.

Lucian

(125 - c. 180)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

Black and white photograph of German writer Hermann Hesse.

Hermann Hesse

(1877 - 1962)

Irish writer Colum McCann.

Colum McCann

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

(c. 1490 - c. 1560)

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

C.G. Jung

(1875 - 1961)

American magician Harry Houdini.

Harry Houdini

(1874 - 1926)

French Benedictine monk Antoine Augustin Calmet.

Antoine Augustin Calmet

(1672 - 1757)

English writer and scholar J.R.R. Tolkien.

J.R.R. Tolkien

(1892 - 1973)

Photograph of Soviet playwright and writer Mikhail Bulgakov.

Mikhail Bulgakov

(1891 - 1940)

American writer John Berendt.

John Berendt

English writer Christopher Marlowe.

Christopher Marlowe

(1564 - 1593)

Irish writer Bram Stoker.

Bram Stoker

(1847 - 1912)

American showman P.T. Barnum.

P.T. Barnum

(1810 - 1891)

English novelist and poet Emily Brontë.

Emily Brontë

(1818 - 1848)

Founder of Christian Science Mary Baker Eddy.

Mary Baker Eddy

(1821 - 1910)

Pierre de Lancre

(1553 - 1631)

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

Saint Augustine

(354 - 430)

Yugoslav novelist Danilo Kiš.

Danilo Kiš

(1935 - 1989)

Photograph of English professor and author Andrew McConnell Stott.

Andrew McConnell Stott

Journalist and author Robert Whitaker.

Robert Whitaker

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

John Crowley

Black and white photograph of Irish poet and writer W. B. Yeats.

W.B. Yeats

(1865 - 1939)

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

Sylvia Plath

(1932 - 1963)

Photograph of English novelist John Fowles.

John Fowles

(1926 - 2005)

Ammianus Marcellinus

(c. 330 - 395)

Gabriel García Márquez

(1927 - 2014)

Photograph of German sociologist and political economist Max Weber.

Max Weber

(1864 - 1920)

New York Times editor Richard W. Stevenson.

Richard W. Stevenson

American novelist and journalist Mark Helprin.

Mark Helprin

Portrait of West African writer and former slave Olaudah Equiano.

Olaudah Equiano

(c. 1745 - 1797)

Pope Innocent VIII

Pope Innocent VIII

(1432 - 1492)

Polish-born American writer Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

(1903 - 1991)

Japanese diarist and poet Sei Shōnagon.

Sei Shonagon

(c. 966 - c. 1025)

Scottish anthropologist and historian of religion James G. Frazer.

James G. Frazer

(1854 - 1941)

American Congregational minister Cotton Mather.

Cotton Mather

(1663 - 1728)

Sufi mystic and poet Rumi.

Rumi

(c. 1207 - 1273)

Black and white photograph of Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud with cigar.

Sigmund Freud

(1856 - 1949)

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

Homer

(c. 800 BC - 725 BC)

Portrait of Chinese fiction writer Pu Songling.

Pu Songling

(1640 - 1715)

Spanish soldier and author Bernal Díaz del Castillo.

Bernal Díaz del Castillo

(c. 1495 - 1584)

French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes.

René Descartes

(1596 - 1650)

Florentine sculptor and writer Benvenuto Cellini.

Benvenuto Cellini

(1500 - 1571)

Byzantine historian and daughter of the emperor Anna Comnena.

Anna Comnena

(1083 - c. 1153)

German magician, occult writer, and theologian Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa.

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa

(1486 - 1535)

Portrait of English-American writer and polemicist Thomas Paine.

Thomas Paine

(1737 - 1809)