Historical illustration from the 19th Century, portrait of Daniel Defoe, 1661 - 1731, an English dealer, writer and journalist, author of Robinson Crusoe

Historical illustration from the 19th Century, portrait of Wilhelm Richard Wagner 1813 - 1883, a German composer, playwright, philosopher, poet, writer, theater director and conductor

Historical illustration from the 19th Century, portrait of George Chapman, 1559 - 1634, an English playwright and poet

Historical illustration from the 19th Century, portrait of George Eliot or Mary Anne Evans, 1819 - 1880, a British writer, translator and journalist

Historical illustration from the 19th Century, portrait of Francis Bacon or Baron Baco of Verulam, 1561 - 1626, an English philosopher and statesman, pioneer of empiricism

Historical illustration from the 19th Century, portrait of Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, 1809 - 1892, a British poet of the Victorian era

Historical illustration from the 19th Century, portrait of Geoffrey Chaucer, ca. 1343 - 1400, by Thomas Hoccleve or Occleve, ca. 1368-1426, The Regiment of Princes, 1412

Historical illustration from the 19th Century, portrait of Sir Richard Steele, an English writer