American songwriters Burt Bacharach & Hal David.

Burt Bacharach & Hal David

English Canadian author Tom Rachman.

Tom Rachman

James Baldwin

(1924 - 1987)

American social reformer Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson

(1823 - 1911)

American critic Edmund Wilson.

Edmund Wilson

(1895 - 1972)

Canadian writer Stephen Marche.

Stephen Marche

Photograph of English professor and author Andrew McConnell Stott.

Andrew McConnell Stott

British writer Muriel Spark.

Muriel Spark

(1918 - 2006)

Image of Japanese poet and essayist Yoshida Kenko.

Yoshida Kenko

(c. 1283 - c. 1351)

English poet and satirist Alexander Pope.

Alexander Pope

(1688 - 1744)

American author Tom Wolfe.

Tom Wolfe

(1931 - 2018)

American poet John Berryman.

John Berryman

(1914 - 1972)

British scholar and military officer T.E. Lawrence.

T.E. Lawrence

(1888 - 1935)

American author of fiction, nonfiction and poetry Charles Baxter.

Charles Baxter

Italian artist and author Giorgio Vasari.

Giorgio Vasari

(1511 - 1574)

Photograph of American writer and professor Paul Collins.

Paul Collins

American television critic Emily Nussbaum.

Emily Nussbaum

William Makepeace Thackeray

(1811 - 1863)

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

Hannah Arendt

(1906 - 1975)

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

Charles Mackay

(1814 - 1889)

British surgeon Frederick Treves.

Fredrick Treves

(1853 - 1923)

English essayist, poet, and dramatist Joseph Addison.

Joseph Addison

(1672 - 1719)

American actor, screenwriter, and producer Matt Damon.

Matt Damon

Ur-Nammu

(2112 BC - 2095 BC)

Portrait of English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

(1792 - 1822)

German poet Heinrich Heine.

Heinrich Heine

(1797 - 1856)

Photograph of German sociologist and political economist Max Weber.

Max Weber

(1864 - 1920)

Portrait of British poet Lord Byron.

Lord Byron

(1788 - 1824)

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift

(1667 - 1745)

British historian Edward Gibbon.

Edward Gibbon

(1737 - 1794)

John Tresch

Pastel drawing of George Eliot.

George Eliot

(1819 - 1880)

American historian Daniel Boorstin.

Daniel Boorstin

(1914 - 2004)

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

Steve Martin

American writer Philip Roth.

Philip Roth

(1933 - 2018)

Frontispiece for 1612-13 King James Bible.

The Bible

Yugoslav novelist Danilo Kiš.

Danilo Kiš

(1935 - 1989)

Black and white photograph of English writer Virginia Woolf.

Virginia Woolf

(1882 - 1941)

Photograph of Marcel Proust looking pensive.

Marcel Proust

(1871 - 1922)

American writer Tad Friend.

Tad Friend

American author Truman Capote.

Truman Capote

(1924 - 1984)

Engraving of Roman author and administrator Pliny the Younger.

Pliny the Younger

(61 - 112)

American showman P.T. Barnum.

P.T. Barnum

(1810 - 1891)

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

Bruce Bawer

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

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

Michel de Montaigne

(1533 - 1592)

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

Emily Dickinson

(1830 - 1886)

American novelist John Dos Passos.

John Dos Passos

(1896 - 1970)

Image of French poet François Villon.

François Villon

(1431 - c. 1463)

John Lennon

(1940 - 1980)

English poet, novelist, and classicist Robert Graves.

Robert Graves

(1895 - 1985)

American assassin John Hinckley Jr.

John Hinckley Jr.

Depiction of Greek philosopher Plato.

Plato

(c. 427 BC - c. 347 BC)

American poet Frank O’Hara.

Frank O’Hara

(1926 - 1966)

Painted portrait of British statesman and political thinker Edmund Burke.

Edmund Burke

(1729 - 1797)

Juvenal

(c. 60 - c. 130)

New York-based author Suketu Mehta.

Suketu Mehta

Photograph of William Faulkner sitting in a chair.

William Faulkner

(1897 - 1962)

Italian poet and scholar Giovanni Boccaccio.

Giovanni Boccaccio

(1313 - 1375)

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

Oscar Wilde

(1854 - 1900)

Portrait of English writer Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mary Wollstonecraft

(1759 - 1797)

Andy Warhol

(1928 - 1987)

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

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

(1647 - 1680)

Arrian

(c. 86 - c. 160)

Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto.

Ludovico Ariosto

(1474 - 1533)

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

Edmond Goncourt

(1822 - 1896)

Joan Didion

(1934 - 2021)

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

Mark Twain

(1835 - 1910)

English writer Christopher Marlowe.

Christopher Marlowe

(1564 - 1593)

Portrait of Francis Bacon in sixteenth-century armor.

Francis Bacon

(1561 - 1626)

American aviator Charles Lindbergh.

Charles Lindbergh

(1902 - 1974)

American poet Wallace Stevens.

Wallace Stevens

(1879 - 1955)

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(1803 - 1882)

American writer Saul Bellow.

Saul Bellow

(1915 - 2005)

Italian Christian theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas.

Thomas Aquinas

(c. 1224 - 1274)

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

F. Scott Fitzgerald

(1896 - 1940)

Suetonius

(69 - c. 130)

Portrait of English poet John Keats.

John Keats

(1795 - 1821)

Valerius Maximus

(c. 20 BC - c. 50 BC)

French critic Roland Barthes.

Roland Barthes

(1915 - 1980)

Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes.

Miguel de Cervantes

(1547 - 1616)

French poet and author Christine de Pisan.

Christine de Pisan

(1364 - c. 1430)

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

John Adams

(1735 - 1826)

Bob Dylan

Black and white photograph of Russian author Leo Tolstoy.

Leo Tolstoy

(1828 - 1910)

Photograph of English novelist Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens

(1812 - 1870)

Chinese American writer Yiyun Li.

Yiyun Li

American non-fiction writer David Samuels.

David Samuels

British beauty and actress Lillie Langtry.

Lillie Langtry

(1853 - 1929)

Ovid

(43 BC - c. 17)

Dio Cassius

(c. 150 - 235)

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

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

Nikki Sixx

English writer and essayist William Hazlitt.

William Hazlitt

(1778 - 1830)

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

Marcus Tullius Cicero

(106 BC - 43 BC)