American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti

(1919 - 2021)

Engraving of Greek satirist Lucian.

Lucian

(125 - c. 180)

Richard Ford

Henry Newbolt

(1862 - 1938)

British historian Edward Gibbon.

Edward Gibbon

(1737 - 1794)

Blaise Pascal

(1623 - 1662)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

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

Honoré de Balzac

(1799 - 1850)

Black and white image of English scholar, writer, and clergyman Robert Burton.

Robert Burton

(1577 - 1640)

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

Lewis Carroll

(1832 - 1898)

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Lou Gehrig

(1903 - 1941)

George Plimpton

George Plimpton

(1927 - 2003)

Beth Raymer

Ovid

(43 BC - c. 17)

Portrait bust of Roman poet Virgil.

Virgil

(70 BC - 19 BC)

American basketball player Charles Barkley.

Charles Barkley

Charles Simic

Photograph by Cliff (CC BY 2.0).

Andre Agassi

Photograph of pilot, horse trainer, writer, and adventurer Beryl Markham on horseback.

Beryl Markham

(1902 - 1986)

Mikhail Lermontov

(1814 - 1841)

American editor Terry McDonell.

Terry McDonell

Abul-Fazl

(1551 - 1602)

Italian courtier, diplomat, and writer Baldassare Castiglione.

Baldassare Castiglione

(1478 - 1529)

Polybius

(c. 200 BC - c. 120 BC)

American writer Philip Roth.

Philip Roth

(1933 - 2018)

Black and white image of American writer Herman Melville.

Herman Melville

(1819 - 1891)

American journalist A. J. Liebling.

A.J. Liebling

(1904 - 1963)

George Catlin

(1769 - 1872)

Statue of the Persian poet Ferdowsi.

Ferdowsi

(c. 935 - c. 1020)

Jay Griffiths

Cuban chess player José Raúl Capablanca.

José Raúl Capablanca

(1888 - 1942)

Cecil Tyndale-Biscoe

(1863 - 1949)

Henry Ford

(1863 - 1947)

Sculpture bust of Greek historian Herodotus.

Herodotus

(c. 484 BC - c. 425 BC)

Dutch historian Johan Huizinga.

Johan Huizinga

(1872 - 1945)

Black and white photograph of Ryszard Kapuściński holding a book.

Ryszard Kapuściński

(1932 - 2007)

Pindar

(c. 518 BC - c. 438 BC)

American poet, journalist, and essayist Walt Whitman.

Walt Whitman

(1819 - 1892)

P.G. Wodehouse

(1881 - 1975)

Dio Chrysostom

(c. 40 - c. 120)

Statue depicting Roman orator and historian Tacitus.

Tacitus

(56 - c. 120)

Roger Bannister

(1929 - 2018)

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Yusef Komunyakaa

Portrait of British poet Lord Byron.

Lord Byron

(1788 - 1824)

Hakeem Olajuwon

Black and white photograph of Mencken looking over his shoulder at the camera

H.L. Mencken

(1880 - 1956)

Portrait of King James I.

James I

(1566 - 1625)

Mosaic portrait of a bearded man in red holding a book

Marco Polo

(1254 - 1324)

Color photograph of American writer Annie Dillard.

Annie Dillard

Bacchylides

(c. 510 BC - c. 452 BC)

Photograph of William Faulkner sitting in a chair.

William Faulkner

(1897 - 1962)

Pierre de Coubertin

(1863 - 1937)

Black and white photograph of American novelist John Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck

(1902 - 1968)

David Grann

Vince Lombardi

(1913 - 1970)

Engraving of Roman author and administrator Pliny the Younger.

Pliny the Younger

(61 - 112)

Victor Heiser

(1873 - 1972)

American poet William Carlos Williams.

William Carlos Williams

(1883 - 1963)

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

Mark Twain

(1835 - 1910)

John McPhee

Image from Codex Manesse depicting a tournament of knights.

Chrétien de Troyes

(c. 1165 - c. 1180)

Black and white photograph of former President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt.

Theodore Roosevelt

(1858 - 1919)

Black and white photograph of Russian author Leo Tolstoy.

Leo Tolstoy

(1828 - 1910)

Eric Nesterenko

Gary Paulsen

Chuck Palahniuk

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

John Crowley

A.G. Spalding

(1850 - 1915)

Eduardo Galeano

(1940 - 2015)

Norman Maclean

(1902 - 1990)

Damon Runyon

(1880 - 1946)

Simon Apter

Matthew C. Perry

(1794 - 1858)

Izaak Walton

(1593 - 1683)

Ernest Hemingway standing between two large hanging fish

Ernest Hemingway

(1899 - 1961)

Darcy Frey

A.E. Housman

(1859 - 1936)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Author and journalist Caroline Alexander.

Caroline Alexander

James Wright

(1927 - 1980)

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

Saint Augustine

(354 - 430)

Photograph of Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov

(1899 - 1977)

American baseball player Yogi Berra.

Yogi Berra

(1925 - 2015)