German sociologist and philosopher Georg Simmel.

Georg Simmel

(1858 - 1918)

Japanese author and retired geisha Mineko Iwasaki.

Mineko Iwasaki

Waris Dirie

Sculpture bust of Greek historian Herodotus.

Herodotus

(c. 484 BC - c. 425 BC)

Valerie Steele

Painting of François Rabelais.

François Rabelais

(1494 - 1553)

Black and white photograph of German-language writer Franz Kafka.

Franz Kafka

(1883 - 1924)

Nazira Zain al-Din

(1908 - 1976)

Amelia Bloomer

(1818 - 1894)

Eliza Haywood

(c. 1693 - 1756)

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

Sylvia Plath

(1932 - 1963)

Chandler Burr

Diana Vreeland

(1903 - 1989)

Li Ruzhen

(c. 1763 - 1830)

H.G. Bissinger

Engraving of Portuguese poet Luís de Camões.

Luís de Camões

(c. 1525 - 1580)

French novelist Gustave Flaubert.

Gustave Flaubert

(1821 - 1880)

Gabriel García Márquez

(1927 - 2014)

Georg Schweinfurth

(1836 - 1925)

Coco Chanel

(1883 - 1971)

Engraving of Robert Herrick

Robert Herrick

(1591 - 1674)

Dorothy Parker working at her typewriter.

Dorothy Parker

(1893 - 1967)

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

(1817 - 1862)

Clarice Lispector

(1920 - 1977)

James Laver

(1889 - 1975)

Emily Post

(1872 - 1960)

Italian courtier, diplomat, and writer Baldassare Castiglione.

Baldassare Castiglione

(1478 - 1529)

José Martí

(1853 - 1895)

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné, by Claude Lefèbvre, c. 1665.

Madame de Sévigné

(1626 - 1696)

French author Émile Zola.

Émile Zola

(1840 - 1902)

Black and white image of Roman philosopher and statesman Seneca the Younger.

Seneca the Younger

(4 BC - 65)

British author Angela Carter.

Angela Carter

(1940 - 1992)

Photograph of Thorstein Veblen

Thorstein Veblen

(1857 - 1929)

German socialist philosopher Friedrich Engels.

Friedrich Engels

(1820 - 1895)

Procopius

(c. 490 - c. 562)

English writer and essayist William Hazlitt.

William Hazlitt

(1778 - 1830)

John Waters

Georg Heinrich von Langsdorff

(1774 - 1852)

Black and white photograph of English writer Virginia Woolf.

Virginia Woolf

(1882 - 1941)

Bobbito Garcia

Image of English naturalist Charles Darwin.

Charles Darwin

(1809 - 1882)

George Sand

(1804 - 1876)

Giacomo Leopardi

(1798 - 1837)

Image of Japanese haiku poet Matsuo Bashō.

Matsuo Basho

(1644 - 1694)

Elizabeth Bishop

(1911 - 1979)

Black and white photograph of African-American leader Malcolm X.

Malcolm X

(1925 - 1965)

Soldier and writer Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon.

Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon

(1675 - 1755)

Scottish anthropologist and historian of religion James G. Frazer.

James G. Frazer

(1854 - 1941)

Murasaki Shikibu

(c. 973 - c. 1031)

St. Dimitry of Rostov

(1651 - 1709)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

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

Mark Twain

(1835 - 1910)

Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Maqqari

(1578 - 1632)

Ukrainian-born Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol.

Nikolai Gogol

(1809 - 1852)

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

Homer

(c. 800 BC - 725 BC)

Portrait of French political philosopher Montesquieu.

Montesquieu

(1689 - 1755)

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

Friedrich Nietzsche

(1844 - 1900)

Azadeh Moaveni

Sextus Propertius

(c. 50 BC - c. 16 BC)

Elizabeth Hawes

(1903 - 1971)

John Lydon

French man of letters Denis Diderot.

Denis Diderot

(1713 - 1784)

Sojourner Truth

(c. 1797 - 1883)

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

Illustration of a man in fancy dress

Cassiodorus

(c. 490 - c. 585)

Italian-French author Filippo Tommaso Marinetti.

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti

(1876 - 1944)

Painting of Jean de la Bruyère wearing a red cape.

Jean de La Bruyère

(1645 - 1696)

Cintra Wilson