Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes.

René Descartes

(1596 - 1650)

Black and white photograph of American poet Marianne Moore.

Marianne Moore

(1887 - 1972)

Nick Bostrom

Nick Bostrom

Portrait of Chinese Daoist Zhuangzi.

Zhuangzi

(c. 369 BC - 286 BC)

French man of letters Denis Diderot.

Denis Diderot

(1713 - 1784)

Alan Turing

Alan Turing

(1912 - 1954)

Cesare Lombroso

(1835 - 1909)

Photograph of Italian writer Italo Calvino.

Italo Calvino

(1923 - 1985)

Portrait of English essayist and critic Thomas De Quincey.

Thomas De Quincey

(1785 - 1859)

James Howell

(c. 1594 - 1666)

Al-Ghazali

(1058 - 1111)

Isaac Asimov

(1920 - 1992)

Diane Ackerman

Engraving of Greek satirist Lucian.

Lucian

(125 - c. 180)

Photograph of Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov

(1899 - 1977)

Noga Arikha

Sy Montgomery

Katsuki Sekida

(1893 - 1987)

Murasaki Shikibu

(c. 973 - c. 1031)

Ron Padgett

Iris Murdoch

(1919 - 1999)

French poet and author Christine de Pisan.

Christine de Pisan

(1364 - c. 1430)

Portrait of Swiss-born philosopher, writer, and political theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

(1712 - 1778)

Mary Ruefle

Hilary Putnam

Hilary Putnam

(1926 - 2016)

Synesius

(c. 370 - c. 414)

English nurse Florence Nightingale.

Florence Nightingale

(1820 - 1910)

Samuel Johnson

(1709 - 1784)

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

Saint Augustine

(354 - 430)

Sangyé Gyatso

Sangyé Gyatso

(1653 - 1705)

French critic Roland Barthes.

Roland Barthes

(1915 - 1980)

Alexander Crummell.

Alexander Crummell

(1819 - 1898)

Kate Millett

Kate Millett

(1934 - 2017)

Photograph of Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

(1899 - 1986)

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov

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

Emily Dickinson

(1830 - 1886)

Shirley Jackson

(1916 - 1965)

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

Michel de Montaigne

(1533 - 1592)

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

John Crowley

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

Edmond Goncourt

(1822 - 1896)

Ferris Jabr.

Ferris Jabr

François Poullain de La Barre

François Poullain de La Barre

(1647 - 1723)

Depiction of Greek philosopher Plato.

Plato

(c. 427 BC - c. 347 BC)

Lame Deer

(1903 - 1976)

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(1803 - 1882)

Marilynne Robinson

Persian philosopher and scientist Avicenna.

Avicenna

(980 - 1037)

Bessie Head

(1937 - 1986)

Painted portrait of Scottish philosopher David Hume.

David Hume

(1711 - 1776)

Colorized engraving of Voltaire wearing a wig.

Voltaire

(1694 - 1778)

Thomas Adeoye Lambo

(1923 - 2004)

Portrait of French philosopher Claude-Adrien Helvétius.

Claude-Adrien Helvétius

(1715 - 1771)

Anthony Gottlieb.

Anthony Gottlieb

Engraving of Pliny the Elder.

Pliny the Elder

(23 - 79)

Oshio Heihachiro

Oshio Heihachiro

(1793 - 1837)

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis

(1839 - 1908)

Mark Salzman

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

Oscar Wilde

(1854 - 1900)

Pastel drawing of George Eliot.

George Eliot

(1819 - 1880)

Image of English naturalist Charles Darwin.

Charles Darwin

(1809 - 1882)

Chen Deyi

(c. 1476 - c. 1494)

Black and white photograph of English writer Virginia Woolf.

Virginia Woolf

(1882 - 1941)

E.C. Krupp

E.C. Krupp

Alice James

Alice James

(1848 - 1892)

Black and white photograph of Italian writer and chemist Primo Levi.

Primo Levi

(1919 - 1987)

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

Photograph of Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire

(1821 - 1867)

Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg

Damion Searls.

Damion Searls

Rebecca Solnit

American novelist Richard Powers.

Richard Powers

Quintus Serenus Sammonicus

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

Simone Weil

(1909 - 1943)

Black and white image of American writer Herman Melville.

Herman Melville

(1819 - 1891)

Liu Xie

(465 - 522)

Gaspar Ofhuys

(c. 1456 - c. 1523)

Black and white photograph of Mao Zedong with raised arm.

Mao Zedong

(1893 - 1976)

Johann Weyer

Johann Weyer

(1515 - 1588)

Gustave Le Bon

Gustave Le Bon

(1841 - 1931)

Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates.

Hippocrates

(c. 460 BC - c. 375 BC)

Maria

Maria Mitchell

(1818 - 1889)

Greek physician, writer, and philosopher Galen.

Galen

(129 - c. 216)

Alois Alzheimer

Alois Alzheimer

(1864 - 1915)

Wumen Huikai

Wumen Huikai

(1183 - 1260)

Margaret Cavendish

(1623 - 1673)

Joyce Carol Oates

Ukrainian-born Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol.

Nikolai Gogol

(1809 - 1852)