man of letters

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

man of letters
    n 1: a man devoted to literary or scholarly activities

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

man of letters \man of letters\ n.
   1. A writer, especially one who writes for a living.
      [PJC]

   2. A learned person; a scholar.
      [PJC]