Black and white photograph of Czech writer Karel Čapek.

Karel Čapek

(1890 - 1938)

Black and white photograph of Argentine writer Julio Cortázar.

Julio Cortázar

(1914 - 1984)

Painted portrait of former American first lady Abigail Adams.

Abigail Smith Adams

(1744 - 1818)

Bust of Chinese astronomer and high official Shen Kuo.

Shen Kuo

(1031 - 1095)

Color photograph of writer and editor Garret Keizer.

Garret Keizer

English novelist, essayist, and critic George Orwell.

George Orwell

(1903 - 1950)

Color photograph of British playwright, novelist, and translator Michael Frayn.

Michael Frayn

Joan Didion

(1934 - 2021)

Portrait of Pope Gregory XIII seated.

Pope Gregory XIII

(1502 - 1585)

Black and white photograph of American novelist John Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck

(1902 - 1968)

Portrait of claimant to English throne James Scott, Duke of Monmouth.

James Scott, Duke of Monmouth

(1649 - 1685)

Black and white photograph of Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva.

Marina Tsvetaeva

(1892 - 1941)

Black and white photograph of American revolutionary writer and activist John Reed.

John Reed

(1887 - 1920)

Black and white photograph of French man of letters Anatole France.

Anatole France

(1844 - 1924)

Black and white photograph of a young John Ruskin wearing a suit.

John Ruskin

(1819 - 1900)

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

William Shakespeare

(1564 - 1616)

Self-portrait of French artist Jacques-Louis David.

Jacques-Louis David

(1748 - 1825)

Black and white photograph of French poet Guillaume Apollinaire.

Guillaume Apollinaire

(1880 - 1918)

Black and white photograph of Italian artist Giacomo Balla.

Giacomo Balla

(1871 - 1958)

Black and white photograph of political scientist and philosopher Hannah Arendt holding a cigarette.

Hannah Arendt

(1906 - 1975)

Color photograph of German novelist Peter Schneider.

Peter Schneider

Color image of French philosopher Auguste Comte.

Auguste Comte

(1798 - 1857)

Photo of stone Aristotle statue face

Aristotle

(384 BC - 322 BC)

Seated man with a large white beard wearing a dark suit

Karl Marx

(1818 - 1883)

Painted portrait of English poet John Milton.

John Milton

(1608 - 1674)

Ba Bulleh Shah

(1680 - 1757)

At the age of seventeen, Hawthorne mused to his mother about the possibility of “relying for support upon my pen.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne

(1804 - 1864)

Black and white photograph of E. B. White sitting at his typewriter with his dachshund.

E.B. White

(1899 - 1985)

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

Sigmund Freud

(1856 - 1949)

Portrait of King George III in military dress.

George III

(1738 - 1820)

Painted portrait of French anarchist and journalist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon.

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

(1809 - 1865)

Naguib Mahfouz

(1911 - 2006)

Portrait of third president of the United States Thomas Jefferson.

Thomas Jefferson

(1743 - 1826)

Color portrait of French radical Jacobin leader Maximilien de Robespierre.

Maximilien Robespierre

(1758 - 1794)

Finck was a music critic for The Nation and the New York Evening Post from 1881 to 1924.

Henry T. Finck

(1854 - 1926)

Black and white photograph of Polish-born German revolutionary and agitator Rosa Luxemburg.

Rosa Luxemburg

(1871 - 1919)

Color painting early Chinese philosopher Mengzi.

Mencius

(c. 371 BC - c. 289 BC)

Color photograph of writer Nicholas Carr.

Nicholas Carr

Portrait of communist theorist and agitator Leon Trotsky.

Leon Trotsky

(1879 - 1940)

Engraving of Roman author and administrator Pliny the Younger.

Pliny the Younger

(61 - 112)

Black and white photograph of former Democratic Republic of Vietnam president Ho Chi Minh.

Ho Chi Minh

(1890 - 1969)

Color photograph of British historian Orlando Figes.

Orlando Figes

Black and white photograph of American anarchist Emma Goldman.

Emma Goldman

(1869 - 1940)

Painted portrait of second President of the United States John Adams.

John Adams

(1735 - 1826)

Black and white photograph of West-Indian-born civil rights activist Stokely Carmichael.

Stokely Carmichael

(1941 - 1998)

Woody Allen in thick black rim glasses

Woody Allen

Color photograph of American writer Deb Olin Unferth.

Deb Olin Unferth

Black and white photograph of Russian revolutionary Sergei Nechaev.

Sergei Nechaev

(1847 - 1882)

Portrait of British poet Lord Byron.

Lord Byron

(1788 - 1824)

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Plutarch

(46 - c. 120)

Color portrait of English philosopher John Locke.

John Locke

(1632 - 1704)

Portrait of Francis Bacon in sixteenth-century armor.

Francis Bacon

(1561 - 1626)

Portrait of Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Dostoevsky

(1821 - 1881)

Portrait of English physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton.

Isaac Newton

(1643 - 1727)

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

W.B. Yeats

(1865 - 1939)

Painting of William Wordsworth.

William Wordsworth

(1770 - 1850)

Photograph of Tunisian poet Abul-Qasim Al-Shabbi.

Abul-Qasim Al-Shabbi

(1909 - 1934)

Painted portrait of British statesman and political thinker Edmund Burke.

Edmund Burke

(1729 - 1797)

Portrait of South American soldier and statesman Simón Bolívar.

Simón Bolívar

(1783 - 1830)

black and white photo of James Thurber lighting a cigarette in the new york times office

James Thurber

(1894 - 1961)

Russian revolutionary and writer Victor Serge.

Victor Serge

(1890 - 1947)

Black and white photograph of American birth-control advocate Margaret Sanger.

Margaret Sanger

(1879 - 1966)

Photograph of British cleric Samuel Wilberforce.

Samuel Wilberforce

(1805 - 1873)

Appian of Alexandria

(c. 95 - c. 165)

Black and white photograph of former U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer with hands in pockets.

A. Mitchell Palmer

(1872 - 1936)

Black and white photograph of French novelist, essayist, and playwright Albert Camus.

Albert Camus

(1913 - 1960)

Black and white photograph of French writer Victor Hugo.

Victor Hugo

(1802 - 1885)

José Martí

(1853 - 1895)

Black and white photograph of prominent communist figure Ernesto Che Guevara.

Che Guevara

(1828 - 1967)

Black and white photograph of former chancellor and Führer of Germany Adolf Hitler.

Adolf Hitler

(1889 - 1945)

Color photograph of Czech playwright, poet, and political dissident Václav Havel.

Václav Havel

(1936 - 2011)

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

Ralph Waldo Emerson

(1803 - 1882)

Image of South Carolina secession leader David Flavel Jamison.

David Flavel Jamison

(1810 - 1864)

Lewis Lapham at his desk

Lewis H. Lapham

Color portrait of German theologian and reformer Martin Luther.

Martin Luther

(1483 - 1546)

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

Simone Weil

(1909 - 1943)

Black and white photograph of historian and man of letters Henry Adams.

Henry Adams

(1838 - 1918)

Photograph of Egyptian writer Yasmine El Rashidi.

Yasmine El Rashidi

Portrait bust of Greek dramatist Aeschylus.

Aeschylus

(c. 525 BC - 456 BC)

Black and white photograph of psychologist and LSD advocate Timothy Leary.

Timothy Leary

(1920 - 1996)

German socialist philosopher Friedrich Engels.

Friedrich Engels

(1820 - 1895)

Black and white photograph of American inventor Thomas Alva Edison.

Thomas Alva Edison

(1847 - 1931)

Statue of French medieval poet and historian Jean Froissart.

Jean Froissart

(c. 1337 - c. 1405)

Black and white photograph of Mao Zedong with raised arm.

Mao Zedong

(1893 - 1976)

Color photograph of author David Graeber wearing a t-shirt.

David Graeber

(1961 - 2020)