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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(1803 - 1882)

James Baldwin

(1924 - 1987)

Black and white image of Persian lyric poet Hafez.

Hafez

(c. 1320 - c. 1390)

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

H.L. Mencken

(1880 - 1956)

John Updike

(1932 - 2009)

Vladimir Lenin

(1870 - 1924)

Isaac Ben Yedaiah

(1450 - 1500)

Color photograph of writer and editor Garret Keizer.

Garret Keizer

Profile of a bearded man wearing a turban

Ibn Khaldun

(1332 - 1406)

Sculpture bust of Greek dramatist Euripides.

Euripides

(c. 484 BC - c. 406 BC)

Painted portrait of English poet John Milton.

John Milton

(1608 - 1674)

Engraving of Roman author and administrator Pliny the Younger.

Pliny the Younger

(61 - 112)

Colorized engraving of Voltaire wearing a wig.

Voltaire

(1694 - 1778)

Depiction of Mughal dynasty founder Babur.

Babur

(1483 - 1530)

Engraving of a bust of Lucretius.

Lucretius

(c. 95 BC - c. 50 BC)

Usama Ibn Munqidh

(1095 - 1188)

Josephus

(37 - 100)

Marilynne Robinson

Black and white photograph of critic and novelist Mary McCarthy.

Mary McCarthy

(1912 - 1989)

Black and white photograph of German writer Hermann Hesse.

Hermann Hesse

(1877 - 1962)

Studio headshot of a young Charlie Chaplin without his signature mustache.

Charlie Chaplin

(1889 - 1977)

Photograph of American novelist and writer Flannery O’Connor.

Flannery O’Connor

(1925 - 1964)

Black and white photograph of Russian author Leo Tolstoy.

Leo Tolstoy

(1828 - 1910)

Black and white photograph of French mystic, philosopher, and activist Simone Weil.

Simone Weil

(1909 - 1943)

Iris Murdoch

(1919 - 1999)

American psychologist and philosopher William James.

William James

(1842 - 1910)

Blaise Pascal

(1623 - 1662)

Elisabeth Sifton

(1939 - 2019)

Reinhold Niebuhr

(1892 - 1971)

Portrait of Alexis de Tocqueville wearing a black suit and standing in front of a chair.

Alexis de Tocqueville

(1805 - 1859)

Black and white photograph of Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva.

Marina Tsvetaeva

(1892 - 1941)

Photograph of German sociologist and political economist Max Weber.

Max Weber

(1864 - 1920)

Saint Teresa of Ávila.

Saint Teresa of Ávila

(1515 - 1582)

Seneca chief Red Jacket.

Red Jacket

(1758 - 1830)

Pope Innocent IV

Pope Innocent IV

(1195 - 1254)

Gianfrancesco Straparola

(c. 1480 - c. 1557)

American poet, journalist, and essayist Walt Whitman.

Walt Whitman

(1819 - 1892)

Portrait of third president of the United States Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson

(1743 - 1826)

Salman Rushdie

Wang Wei

(701 - 761)

Photograph of Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

(1899 - 1986)

Albert Einstein in a suit and tie standing in front of a chalkboard

Albert Einstein

(1879 - 1955)

British philosopher, logician, and social critic Bertrand Russell.

Bertrand Russell

(1872 - 1970)

German writer and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(1749 - 1832)

Theodor Herzl

(1860 - 1904)

Color portrait of German theologian and reformer Martin Luther.

Martin Luther

(1483 - 1546)

French author Émile Zola.

Émile Zola

(1840 - 1902)

Polish-born American writer Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

(1903 - 1991)

Color portrait of Chinese writer and poet Han Yu.

Han Yu

(768 - 824)

French writer and philosopher Michel Onfray.

Michel Onfray

James Joyce

(1882 - 1941)

Chinese philosopher Xunzi.

Xunzi

(c. 300 BC - 230 BC)

Black and white photograph of poet, diplomat, and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson.

James Weldon Johnson

(1871 - 1938)

Roman emperor Julian.

Julian

(332 - 363)

Photograph of American writer Francine Prose.

Francine Prose

American writer Philip Roth.

Philip Roth

(1933 - 2018)

British literary theorist and critic Terry Eagleton.

Terry Eagleton

Frontispiece for 1612-13 King James Bible.

The Bible

Jean Meslier.

Jean Meslier

(1664 - 1729)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

Portrait of American Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards.

Jonathan Edwards

(1703 - 1758)

English critic and author G. K. Chesterton.

G.K. Chesterton

(1874 - 1936)

Christian scholar St. Jerome.

Saint Jerome

(c. 347 - c. 420)

Byzantine historian and daughter of the emperor Anna Comnena.

Anna Comnena

(1083 - c. 1153)

Sculpture bust of Greek historian Herodotus.

Herodotus

(c. 484 BC - c. 425 BC)

Seated man with a large white beard wearing a dark suit

Karl Marx

(1818 - 1883)

Painted portrait of Scottish philosopher David Hume.

David Hume

(1711 - 1776)

Drawing of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.

Søren Kierkegaard

(1813 - 1855)

Photograph of President Abraham Lincoln sitting in a chair.

Abraham Lincoln

(1809 - 1865)

Nichiren

(1222 - 1282)

Jon Krakauer

Alma Guillermoprieto

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Color portrait of English poet John Donne.

John Donne

(1572 - 1631)

Zvi Kolitz

(1912 - 2002)

Turkish author Orhan Pamuk.

Orhan Pamuk

Black and white photograph of Friedrich Nietzsche with a huge mustache.

Friedrich Nietzsche

(1844 - 1900)

Painting of Persian Muslim poet Farid ud-Din Attar.

Farid ud-Din Attar

(c. 1142 - c. 1220)

Saadat Hasan Manto

(1912 - 1955)

English writer and essayist William Hazlitt.

William Hazlitt

(1778 - 1830)

Enheduanna

(c. 2285 BC - 2250 BC)

Illustration of a woman wearing a bonnet and writing with a quill at a desk

Phillis Wheatley

(c. 1753 - 1784)

Black and white photograph of English poet and Jesuit priest Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Gerard Manley Hopkins

(1844 - 1889)

Warren Breckman

Hans Holbein portrait of Sir Thomas More.

Thomas More

(1478 - 1535)