Photograph of journalist, author, and professor Michael Pollan.

Michael Pollan

Photograph of American writer Francine Prose.

Francine Prose

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

Seneca the Younger

(4 BC - 65)

Photograph of American humorist and author David Sedaris.

David Sedaris

Painted portrait of English poet John Milton.

John Milton

(1608 - 1674)

Image of French writer Honoré de Balzac with hand on chest.

Honoré de Balzac

(1799 - 1850)

Photograph of American novelist and screenwriter Raymond Chandler.

Raymond Chandler

(1888 - 1959)

Photograph of American novelist and poet Jack Kerouac.

Jack Kerouac

(1922 - 1969)

Portrait of Scottish biographer and diarist James Boswell.

James Boswell

(1740 - 1795)

Portrait of Chinese scholar and official Lin Zexu.

Lin Zexu

(1785 - 1850)

Kingsley Amis

(1922 - 1995)

Photograph of American writer William T. Vollmann.

William T. Vollmann

Photograph of American professional baseball player Dock Ellis.

Dock Ellis

(1945 - 2008)

Theognis

(c. 570 BC - c. 490 BC)

Photograph of American comedian and film star Harpo Marx.

Harpo Marx

(1888 - 1964)

Image of Scottish poet, journalist, and author Charles Mackay.

Charles Mackay

(1814 - 1889)

Joan Didion

(1934 - 2021)

Photograph of Charles Baudelaire

Charles Baudelaire

(1821 - 1867)

Portrait of King James I.

James I

(1566 - 1625)

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

Sven Birkerts

Frontispiece for 1612-13 King James Bible.

The Bible

Photograph of English essayist, poet, and biographer John Addington Symonds.

John Addington Symonds

(1840 - 1893)

Photograph of journalist Nick Reding.

Nick Reding

Photograph of American novelist and short story writer Stephen Crane.

Stephen Crane

(1871 - 1900)

Dorothy Parker working at her typewriter.

Dorothy Parker

(1893 - 1967)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

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

F. Scott Fitzgerald

(1896 - 1940)

Depiction of Persian mathematician and poet Omar Khayyam.

Omar Khayyam

(1048 - 1131)

Depiction of German abbess and mystic St. Hildegard.

Hildegard of Bingen

(1098 - 1179)

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

Emily Dickinson

(1830 - 1886)

Image of Japanese poet and essayist Yoshida Kenko.

Yoshida Kenko

(c. 1283 - c. 1351)

Color portrait of German theologian and reformer Martin Luther.

Martin Luther

(1483 - 1546)

Rebecca Lemon

William Langland

(c. 1325 - c. 1390)

Black and white photograph of French writer and film director Marguerite Duras.

Marguerite Duras

(1914 - 1996)

Black and white image of American writer Herman Melville.

Herman Melville

(1819 - 1891)

Photograph of American author Dennis Covington.

Dennis Covington

Photograph of Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann.

Albert Hofmann

(1906 - 2008)

Depiction of Greek philosopher Plato.

Plato

(c. 427 BC - c. 347 BC)

Portrait of English physician John Elliotson.

John Elliotson

(1791 - 1868)

Photograph of journalist and author Fitz Hugh Ludlow.

Fitz Hugh Ludlow

(1836 - 1870)

Photograph of German literary critic Walter Benjamin.

Walter Benjamin

(1892 - 1940)

Photograph of American feminist and author Anne Roiphe.

Anne Roiphe

Photograph of American author Jacqueline Susann.

Jacqueline Susann

(1921 - 1974)

Portrait of English lyrical poet and critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

(1772 - 1834)

Photograph of American clinical psychologist and writer Kay Redfield Jamison.

Kay Redfield Jamison

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

Sylvia Plath

(1932 - 1963)

Portrait of Anglo-Irish essayist, poet, novelist, and dramatist Oliver Goldsmith.

Oliver Goldsmith

(1730 - 1774)

Portrait bust of Greek lyric poet Archilochus.

Archilochus

(c. 740 BC - 680 BC)

Photograph of American writer William S. Burroughs.

William S. Burroughs

(1914 - 1997)

Image of Japanese poet Ōtomo Tabito with horse.

Ōtomo Tabito

(665 - 731)

Painting of François Rabelais.

François Rabelais

(1494 - 1553)

Portrait of English essayist and critic Thomas De Quincey.

Thomas De Quincey

(1785 - 1859)

Portrait of English poet John Keats.

John Keats

(1795 - 1821)

Photograph of American novelist Jack London.

Jack London

(1876 - 1916)

Depiction of Plymouth colony governor William Bradford.

William Bradford

(1590 - 1657)

Ernest Hemingway standing between two large hanging fish

Ernest Hemingway

(1899 - 1961)

Black and white photograph of German writer Hermann Hesse.

Hermann Hesse

(1877 - 1962)

Chinese poet Li Bai seated.

Li Bai

(701 - 762)

Photograph of American writer Denis Johnson.

Denis Johnson

(1949 - 2017)

Photograph of Irish playwright and novelist Frank O'Connor.

Frank O’Connor

(1903 - 1966)

William Biddulph

Black and white photograph of Irish poet and writer W. B. Yeats.

W.B. Yeats

(1865 - 1939)

Photograph of British writer Roald Dahl.

Roald Dahl

(1916 - 1990)

Engraving of Pliny the Elder.

Pliny the Elder

(23 - 79)

James Joyce

(1882 - 1941)

Quintus Curtius Rufus

(c. 41 - c. 79)

Portrait of French writer Stendhal.

Stendhal

(1783 - 1842)

Image of American lawyer and autobiographer Richard Henry Dana Jr.

Richard Henry Dana Jr.

(1815 - 1882)

Photograph of American poet Countee Cullen.

Countee Cullen

(1903 - 1946)

Andy Warhol

(1928 - 1987)

Photograph of literary agent and author Bill Clegg.

Bill Clegg

German socialist philosopher Friedrich Engels.

Friedrich Engels

(1820 - 1895)

Depiction of Greek lyric poet Sappho.

Sappho

(c. 610 BC - c. 570 BC)

Photograph of President Abraham Lincoln sitting in a chair.

Abraham Lincoln

(1809 - 1865)

Color portrait of the Italian writer and libertine Giacomo Casanova.

Giacomo Casanova

(1725 - 1798)

Depiction of chief of the Miami tribe Little Turtle.

Little Turtle

(c. 1752 - 1812)

Photograph of American jazz musician Art Pepper with saxophone.

Art Pepper

(1925 - 1982)

Portrait bust of Greek historian Xenophon.

Xenophon

(c. 430 BC - c. 351 BC)

Photograph of German writer Patrick Süskind.

Patrick Süskind

Photograph of African American abolitionist and U.S. diplomat Frederick Douglass.

Frederick Douglass

(c. 1818 - 1895)

Black and white photograph of Russian author Leo Tolstoy.

Leo Tolstoy

(1828 - 1910)