Painting of Benjamin Franklin reading a batch of papers next to a classical bust.

Benjamin Franklin

(1706 - 1790)

Image from an illuminated manuscript of Boethius teaching two students.

Boethius

(c. 480 - c. 524)

Japanese classical poet Princess Shikishi.

Princess Shikishi

(c. 1140 - 1201)

Painting of Japanese statesman and poet Otomo no Yakamochi.

Otomo no Yakamochi

(718 - 785)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

Black and white photograph of E. B. White sitting at his typewriter with his dachshund.

E.B. White

(1899 - 1985)

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

Alexis de Tocqueville

(1805 - 1859)

Painting of Ivan Goncharov sitting in a chair.

Ivan Goncharov

(1812 - 1891)

Photograph of Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson

(1907 - 1964)

Portrait of young Arthur Schopenhauer wearing a brown suit and a cravat.

Arthur Schopenhauer

(1788 - 1860)

Bill Russell leaps for a basketball while playing for the Celtics.

Bill Russell

Photograph of Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire

(1821 - 1867)

Lewis Mumford

(1895 - 1990)

Photograph of Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov

(1899 - 1977)

Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky

(1821 - 1881)

Photograph of Marcel Proust looking pensive.

Marcel Proust

(1871 - 1922)

Terrence des Pres

(1939 - 1987)

Immanuel Kant

(1724 - 1804)

Frederick W. Taylor in suit and tie

Frederick W. Taylor

(1856 - 1915)

St. Benedict

Saint Benedict

(c. 480 - c. 547)

Black-and-white photograph of Martin Luther King Jr. with his right hand lifted

Martin Luther King Jr.

(1929 - 1968)

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

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

Saint Augustine

(354 - 430)

Painting of William Wordsworth.

William Wordsworth

(1770 - 1850)

Jules Verne

Jules Verne

(1828 - 1905)

Black and white photograph of a young H.G. Wells with a mustache.

H.G. Wells

(1866 - 1946)

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

Albert Einstein

(1879 - 1955)

Color photograph of Stephen Hawking in his wheelchai.r

Stephen Hawking

(1942 - 2018)

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

Emily Dickinson

(1830 - 1886)

Photograph of Ugandan poet Okot p'Bitek.

Okot p’Bitek

(1931 - 1982)

Black and white photograph of a young John Ruskin wearing a suit.

John Ruskin

(1819 - 1900)

Bust of Marcus Aurelius

Marcus Aurelius

(121 - 180)

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

Mark Twain

(1835 - 1910)

Photograph of Lord Dunsany

Lord Dunsany

(1878 - 1957)

Photograph of Thorstein Veblen

Thorstein Veblen

(1857 - 1929)

Portrait of Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz in a nun's habit.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

(c. 1651 - 1695)

b&w photograph of Octavio Paz in a crowd

Octavio Paz

(1914 - 1998)

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

Colin Dickey

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

Seneca the Younger

(4 BC - 65)

Bust of Hesiod

Hesiod

Black and white photograph of Sven Birkerts sitting in front of a bookshelf.

Sven Birkerts

Hans Holbein portrait of Sir Thomas More.

Thomas More

(1478 - 1535)

Black and white photograph of a young Marshall McLuhan with a think mustache.

Marshall McLuhan

(1911 - 1980)

Photograph of Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

(1899 - 1986)

Photograph of Oodergoo Noonuccal

Oodgeroo Noonuccal

(1920 - 1993)

Engraving of a bust of Lucretius.

Lucretius

(c. 95 BC - c. 50 BC)

Mac McClelland sanding in muddy field in Africa.

Mac McClelland

Photograph of Marguerite Yourcenar with a headscarf sitting in a chair outside.

Marguerite Yourcenar

(1903 - 1987)

Photograph of William Faulkner sitting in a chair.

William Faulkner

(1897 - 1962)

Photograph of Andrei Tarkovsky

Andrei Tarkovsky

(1932 - 1986)

Photo of stone Aristotle statue face

Aristotle

(384 BC - 322 BC)

T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot

(1888 - 1965)

Image of Japanese Buddhist monk Dōgen.

Dōgen

(1200 - 1253)

Photograph of Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis

Russian author Yevgenia Semyonova Ginzburg.

Yevgenia Semyonova Ginzburg

(1904 - 1977)

Abu al-ʿAtahiya

(748 - c. 825)

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

John Crowley

Black and white photograph of D.H. Lawrence with arms crossed.

D.H. Lawrence

(1885 - 1930)

Photograph of Jim Holt looking at a book.

Jim Holt

Black and white photograph of C. P. Cavafy wearing thick-rimmed black glasses.

C.P. Cavafy

(1863 - 1933)

Portrait of Francis Bacon in sixteenth-century armor.

Francis Bacon

(1561 - 1626)

Black and white photograph of E. C. Osondu.

E.C. Osondu

Color photograph of Oliver Sacks with a white beard and glasses.

Oliver Sacks

(1933 - 2015)

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

F. Scott Fitzgerald

(1896 - 1940)

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

Friedrich Nietzsche

(1844 - 1900)

Engraving of Roman poet Horace.

Horace

(65 BC - 8 BC)

Sepia toned photograph of Lewis Carroll in a suit, reading a book

Lewis Carroll

(1832 - 1898)

Joan Didion

(1934 - 2021)

Susan Sontag

(1933 - 2004)

Black and white photograph of William Golding wearing an ascot.

William Golding

(1911 - 1993)

Classical bust of Thucydides.

Thucydides

(c. 460 BC - c. 404 BC)

Black and white photograph of Ryszard Kapuściński holding a book.

Ryszard Kapuściński

(1932 - 2007)

Mahmud Shabistari

(1288 - 1340)

English writer Christopher Marlowe.

Christopher Marlowe

(1564 - 1593)

Henri Bergson

Henri Bergson

(1859 - 1941)

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

(1817 - 1862)