Photograph of Italian writer Italo Calvino.

Italo Calvino

(1923 - 1985)

Orderic Vitalis

(1075 - c. 1142)

Painting of François Rabelais.

François Rabelais

(1494 - 1553)

Gabriel García Márquez

(1927 - 2014)

Photograph of American journalist Sebastian Junger.

Sebastian Junger

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

Engraving of Roman poet Horace.

Horace

(65 BC - 8 BC)

Black and white photograph of American novelist John Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck

(1902 - 1968)

Painting of an older Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

(1770 - 1831)

Photograph of Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson

(1907 - 1964)

Photograph of American food writer M.F.K. Fisher with cat.

M.F.K. Fisher

(1908 - 1992)

Color portrait of English poet John Donne.

John Donne

(1572 - 1631)

Engraving of Greek satirist Lucian.

Lucian

(125 - c. 180)

Photograph of American novelist Katherine Anne Porter.

Katherine Anne Porter

(1890 - 1980)

Jules Verne

Jules Verne

(1828 - 1905)

Photograph of French writer Guy de Maupassant.

Guy de Maupassant

(1850 - 1893)

Photograph of Scottish physician James Lowson.

James Lowson

(1866 - 1935)

Photograph of English novelist John Fowles.

John Fowles

(1926 - 2005)

Photograph of British writer Richard Hughes.

Richard Hughes

(1900 - 1976)

Portrait bust of Roman poet Virgil.

Virgil

(70 BC - 19 BC)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Photograph of African-American poet and writer Langston Hughes.

Langston Hughes

(1902 - 1967)

Image of Chinese poet Bai Juyi.

Bai Juyi

(772 - 846)

Photograph of American novelist Maggie Shipstead.

Maggie Shipstead

Engraving of Portuguese poet Luís de Camões.

Luís de Camões

(c. 1525 - 1580)

Photograph of German-English novelist W.G. Sebald.

W.G. Sebald

(1944 - 2001)

Philip Drake

(c. 1790 - c. 1857)

Photograph of American novelist Kate Chopin.

Kate Chopin

(1851 - 1904)

Photograph of Sri Lankan memoirist and economist Sonali Deraniyagala.

Sonali Deraniyagala

Black and white image of American writer Herman Melville.

Herman Melville

(1819 - 1891)

Engraving of the medieval Arab traveler Ibn Battuta.

Ibn Battuta

(1304 - c. 1369)

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

Lewis Carroll

(1832 - 1898)

Janet Schaw

(c. 1731 - c. 1801)

Photograph of American oceanographer Charles Moore.

Charles Moore

Black and white photograph of Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson.

Robert Louis Stevenson

(1850 - 1894)

Author and journalist Caroline Alexander.

Caroline Alexander

Image of English journalist and sociologist Henry Mayhew.

Henry Mayhew

(1812 - 1887)

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

Homer

(c. 800 BC - 725 BC)

Engraving of Italian adventurer Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri.

Giovanni Francesco Gemelli Careri

(1651 - 1725)

Black and white photograph of Polish-born English writer Joseph Conrad.

Joseph Conrad

(1857 - 1924)

Image of medieval traveler Sir John Mandeville.

John Mandeville

(c. 1300 - 1371)

Painting of English privateer Woodes Rogers.

Woodes Rogers

(c. 1679 - 1732)

Photograph of English novelist Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens

(1812 - 1870)

Photograph of American writer Lawrence Wright.

Lawrence Wright

Photograph of American dramatist Edward Albee.

Edward Albee

(1928 - 2016)

Black and white photograph of Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva.

Marina Tsvetaeva

(1892 - 1941)

Portrait of West African writer and former slave Olaudah Equiano.

Olaudah Equiano

(c. 1745 - 1797)

Charles Sprawson

(1941 - 2020)

Photograph of British writer and journalist Simon Winchester.

Simon Winchester

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

Moses Smith

(1783 - 1870)

Image of Japanese haiku poet Matsuo Bashō.

Matsuo Basho

(1644 - 1694)

T.S. Eliot

T.S. Eliot

(1888 - 1965)

Painted portrait of British explorer James Cook.

James Cook

(1728 - 1779)

Photograph of American writer and translator Lafcadio Hearn.

Lafcadio Hearn

(1850 - 1904)

Photograph of British historian and diplomat James Bryce.

James Bryce

(1838 - 1922)

Photograph of West Indian poet and playwright Derek Walcott.

Derek Walcott

(1930 - 2017)

Photograph of American dramatist Eugene O’Neill.

Eugene O’Neill

(1888 - 1953)

Engraving of Scottish economist Adam Smith.

Adam Smith

(1723 - 1790)

Image of American lawyer and autobiographer Richard Henry Dana Jr.

Richard Henry Dana Jr.

(1815 - 1882)

Black and white photograph of American poet Marianne Moore.

Marianne Moore

(1887 - 1972)

Photograph of American writer William Langewiesche.

William Langewiesche

Painted portrait of Italian navigator Christopher Columbus.

Christopher Columbus

(1451 - 1506)

Color photograph of French oceanic explorer Jacques Cousteau in parka.

Jacques Cousteau

(1910 - 1997)

Photograph of English literary historian and critic Edmund Gosse.

Edmund Gosse

(1849 - 1928)

Image of Japanese poet Kakinomoto Hitomaro.

Kakinomoto Hitomaro

(c. 662 - c. 708)

Photograph of American writer and naturalist Henry Beston.

Henry Beston

(1888 - 1968)

Color image of English novelist Charlotte Brontë with book in hand.

Charlotte Brontë

(1816 - 1855)

Photograph of traveler and writer Isabella Bird.

Isabella Bird

(1831 - 1904)

Photograph of former U.S. President Millard Fillmore.

Millard Fillmore

(1800 - 1874)

Portrait of English novelist and poet Charlotte Smith.

Charlotte Smith

(1749 - 1806)

Engraving of Pliny the Elder.

Pliny the Elder

(23 - 79)

Manuscript image of St. Bede.

Saint Bede

(c. 673 - 735)

Photograph of British explorer and surgeon G. Murray Levick.

G. Murray Levick

(1876 - 1956)

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

Benjamin Franklin

(1706 - 1790)

Jack Thayer

(1894 - 1945)

Achilles Tatius

(c. 200 - c. 250)

Anyte

(c. 320 BC - c. 280 BC)

Sculpture bust of Greek historian Herodotus.

Herodotus

(c. 484 BC - c. 425 BC)