Dorothea Dix

(1802 - 1887)

American writer William Styron.

William Styron

(1925 - 2006)

James Orbinski

Black and white photograph of American writer and critic Anatole Broyard.

Anatole Broyard

(1920 - 1990)

Mimnermus

(c. 630 BC - c. 600 BC)

Photograph of American clinical psychologist and writer Kay Redfield Jamison.

Kay Redfield Jamison

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

Seneca the Younger

(4 BC - 65)

Andrew Blackbird

(c. 1815 - 1908)

Image of Chinese poet Bai Juyi.

Bai Juyi

(772 - 846)

Sinclair Lewis

(1885 - 1951)

Jonathan Lyons

Ancient Greek physician Hippocrates.

Hippocrates

(c. 460 BC - c. 375 BC)

Susan Sontag

(1933 - 2004)

Jewish philosopher, jurist, and physician Moses Maimonides.

Moses Maimonides

(1135 - 1204)

Portrait of English essayist and critic Thomas De Quincey.

Thomas De Quincey

(1785 - 1859)

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

Michel de Montaigne

(1533 - 1592)

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

Emily Dickinson

(1830 - 1886)

Depiction of Greek philosopher Plato.

Plato

(c. 427 BC - c. 347 BC)

Atul Gawande

Painting of humanist and scholar Erasmus.

Erasmus

(1466 - 1536)

Italian poet and librettist Felice Romani.

Felice Romani

(1788 - 1865)

Elizabeth Blackwell

(1821 - 1910)

Surgeon and author Richard Selzer.

Richard Selzer

(1928 - 2016)

Black and white photograph of English writer Virginia Woolf.

Virginia Woolf

(1882 - 1941)

black and white pencil drawing of Moliere in an ornate frame

Molière

(1622 - 1673)

Photograph of Marcel Proust looking pensive.

Marcel Proust

(1871 - 1922)

English novelist, essayist, and critic George Orwell.

George Orwell

(1903 - 1950)

Quintus Serenus Sammonicus

Soranus

(c. 150 - c. 200)

English art historian, novelist and journalist Iain Pears.

Iain Pears

Louisa May Alcott

(1832 - 1888)

Persian philosopher and scientist Avicenna.

Avicenna

(980 - 1037)

Classical bust of Thucydides.

Thucydides

(c. 460 BC - c. 404 BC)

Louis Pasteur

(1822 - 1895)

Joan Didion

(1934 - 2021)

Black and white photograph of Alsatian-German winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Albert Schweitzer.

Albert Schweitzer

(1875 - 1965)

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

Oliver Sacks

(1933 - 2015)

Fanny Burney

(1752 - 1840)

Jean-Dominique Bauby

(1952 - 1997)

Jacques Ferrand

(c. 1575 - c. 1620)

Depiction of German abbess and mystic St. Hildegard.

Hildegard of Bingen

(1098 - 1179)

Photograph of Soviet playwright and writer Mikhail Bulgakov.

Mikhail Bulgakov

(1891 - 1940)

American novelist and short story writer Bernard Cooper.

Bernard Cooper

Photograph of English poet and novelist Rudyard Kipling.

Rudyard Kipling

(1865 - 1936)

Color portrait of English poet John Donne.

John Donne

(1572 - 1631)

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

John Crowley

Felix Platter

(1536 - 1614)

Daniel Defoe

(1660 - 1731)

Founder of the Macrobiotic diet and philosophy George Ohsawa.

George Ohsawa

(1893 - 1966)

John Wesley

(1703 - 1791)

Al-Kindi

(c. 801 - c. 870)

photograph of David Foster Wallace speaking at a podium

David Foster Wallace

(1962 - 2008)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

(1935 - 2024)

Black and white photograph of Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud with cigar.

Sigmund Freud

(1856 - 1949)

Li Zhisui

(1919 - 1995)

Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky

(1821 - 1881)

John Barth

Andreas Vesalius

(1514 - 1564)

Ken Kesey

(1935 - 2001)

Black and white photograph of scholar, novelist, and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis.

C.S. Lewis

(1898 - 1963)

Black and white photograph of British writer Doris Lessing.

Doris Lessing

(1919 - 2013)

Noga Arikha

Iain Bamforth

Paddy Chayefsky

(1923 - 1981)

Meehan Crist

Meehan Crist

English writer Jerome K. Jerome.

Jerome K. Jerome

(1859 - 1927)

American writer and political activist Barbara Ehrenreich.

Barbara Ehrenreich

(1941 - 2022)

American poet William Carlos Williams.

William Carlos Williams

(1883 - 1963)

Hammurabi

(1810 BC - 1750 BC)

Greek physician, writer, and philosopher Galen.

Galen

(129 - c. 216)