Photograph of English professor and author Andrew McConnell Stott.

Andrew McConnell Stott

American aviator Charles Lindbergh.

Charles Lindbergh

(1902 - 1974)

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

John Adams

(1735 - 1826)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Engraving of Roman author and administrator Pliny the Younger.

Pliny the Younger

(61 - 112)

Italian poet and scholar Giovanni Boccaccio.

Giovanni Boccaccio

(1313 - 1375)

Black and white photograph of English writer Virginia Woolf.

Virginia Woolf

(1882 - 1941)

American poet Wallace Stevens.

Wallace Stevens

(1879 - 1955)

American author Truman Capote.

Truman Capote

(1924 - 1984)

Pastel drawing of George Eliot.

George Eliot

(1819 - 1880)

Valerius Maximus

(c. 20 BC - c. 50 BC)

American writer Philip Roth.

Philip Roth

(1933 - 2018)

Depiction of Greek philosopher Plato.

Plato

(c. 427 BC - c. 347 BC)

Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes.

Miguel de Cervantes

(1547 - 1616)

Black and white photograph of Russian author Leo Tolstoy.

Leo Tolstoy

(1828 - 1910)

Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto.

Ludovico Ariosto

(1474 - 1533)

British scholar and military officer T.E. Lawrence.

T.E. Lawrence

(1888 - 1927)

British surgeon Frederick Treves.

Fredrick Treves

(1853 - 1923)

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

Hannah Arendt

(1906 - 1975)

American poet Frank O’Hara.

Frank O’Hara

(1926 - 1966)

American author of fiction, nonfiction and poetry Charles Baxter.

Charles Baxter

American musician Bob Dylan.

Bob Dylan

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

Emily Dickinson

(1830 - 1886)

English poet and satirist Alexander Pope.

Alexander Pope

(1688 - 1744)

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

Oscar Wilde

(1854 - 1900)

Joan Didion

American poet John Berryman.

John Berryman

(1914 - 1972)

Ur-Nammu

(2112 BC - 2095 BC)

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

F. Scott Fitzgerald

(1896 - 1940)

British beauty and actress Lillie Langtry.

Lillie Langtry

(1853 - 1929)

Chinese American writer Yiyun Li.

Yiyun Li

Photograph of German sociologist and political economist Max Weber.

Max Weber

(1864 - 1920)

Photograph of William Faulkner sitting in a chair.

William Faulkner

(1897 - 1962)

Photograph of American writer and professor Paul Collins.

Paul Collins

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

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester

(1647 - 1680)

American television critic Emily Nussbaum.

Emily Nussbaum

Portrait of English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

(1792 - 1822)

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

Edmond Goncourt

(1822 - 1896)

English Canadian author Tom Rachman.

Tom Rachman

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

Steve Martin

Canadian writer Stephen Marche.

Stephen Marche

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift

(1667 - 1745)

Arrian

(c. 86 - c. 160)

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

Bruce Bawer

English writer and essayist William Hazlitt.

William Hazlitt

(1778 - 1830)

French poet and author Christine de Pisan.

Christine de Pisan

(1364 - c. 1430)

Portrait of British poet Lord Byron.

Lord Byron

(1788 - 1824)

American novelist John Dos Passos.

John Dos Passos

(1896 - 1970)

American showman P.T. Barnum.

P.T. Barnum

(1810 - 1891)

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

Nikki Sixx

American social reformer Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

Thomas Wentworth Higginson

(1823 - 1911)

Italian Christian theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas.

Thomas Aquinas

(c. 1224 - 1274)

Photograph of Marcel Proust looking pensive.

Marcel Proust

(1871 - 1922)

Portrait of English poet John Keats.

John Keats

(1795 - 1821)

Image of Japanese poet and essayist Yoshida Kenko.

Yoshida Kenko

(c. 1283 - c. 1351)

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

Mark Twain

(1835 - 1910)

American non-fiction writer David Samuels.

David Samuels

English essayist, poet, and dramatist Joseph Addison.

Joseph Addison

(1672 - 1719)

Painted portrait of British statesman and political thinker Edmund Burke.

Edmund Burke

(1729 - 1797)

American actor, screenwriter, and producer Matt Damon.

Matt Damon

Frontispiece for 1612-13 King James Bible.

The Bible

British musician John Lennon.

John Lennon

(1940 - 1980)

William Makepeace Thackeray

(1811 - 1863)

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

Marcus Tullius Cicero

(106 BC - 43 BC)

American historian Daniel Boorstin.

Daniel Boorstin

(1914 - 2004)

Yugoslav novelist Danilo Kiš.

Danilo Kiš

(1935 - 1989)

Photograph of American artist Andy Warhol.

Andy Warhol

(1928 - 1987)

John Tresch

American assassin John Hinckley Jr.

John Hinckley Jr.

James Baldwin

(1924 - 1987)

American songwriters Burt Bacharach & Hal David.

Burt Bacharach & Hal David

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

American critic Edmund Wilson.

Edmund Wilson

(1895 - 1972)

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

Charles Mackay

(1814 - 1889)

Portrait of English writer Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mary Wollstonecraft

(1759 - 1797)

Suetonius

(69 - c. 130)

British historian Edward Gibbon.

Edward Gibbon

(1737 - 1794)

English poet, novelist, and classicist Robert Graves.

Robert Graves

(1895 - 1985)

Ovid

(43 BC - c. 17)

New York-based author Suketu Mehta.

Suketu Mehta

English writer Christopher Marlowe.

Christopher Marlowe

(1564 - 1593)

American writer Saul Bellow.

Saul Bellow

(1915 - 2005)

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

Michel de Montaigne

(1533 - 1592)

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(1803 - 1882)

German poet Heinrich Heine.

Heinrich Heine

(1825 - 1856)

Portrait of Francis Bacon in sixteenth-century armor.

Francis Bacon

(1561 - 1626)

Italian artist and author Giorgio Vasari.

Giorgio Vasari

(1511 - 1574)

Image of French poet François Villon.

François Villon

(1431 - c. 1463)

American writer Tad Friend.

Tad Friend

American author Tom Wolfe.

Tom Wolfe

(1931 - 2018)

French critic Roland Barthes.

Roland Barthes

(1915 - 1980)

Dio Cassius

(c. 150 - 235)

Juvenal

(c. 60 - c. 130)

Photograph of English novelist Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens

(1812 - 1870)

British writer Muriel Spark.

Muriel Spark

(1918 - 2006)

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)