Book Related Postage

I am and always have been a big reader, and believe there’s nothing better than being sucked into a wonderful story. I just had a friend ask me about stamps related to books, and it got me thinking, how many are there? Apart from the well known literary arts series (started in 1979, each with a portrait of a famous author), which stamps actually picture books, reading or libraries?

So I gathered them all for you. The oldest one in the image above is the 1952 Gutenberg Bible stamp, which honors the 500th anniversary of the first ever printed book. The youngest is the 33c Library of Congress stamp from 2000, celebrating 200 years of this important institution founded by President John Adams in 1800. Look again at the grouping of stamps and you’ll notice it’s actually one of two Library of Congress stamps, the first printed in 1982. It shows the exterior of the Thomas Jefferson building, completed in 1897 which made it, at the time, the costliest and largest library in the world.

I have also been thinking recently about Childrens Literature found on stamps. You may remember the recent Snowy Day postage stamps, which honor the 1962 Ezra Jack Keats work, but did you know there are plenty of other examples? The block of four 29c Children’s Literature stamps are on the refined side. I even used one of these 1993 stamps, the Huckleberry Finn, for my sister in law’s baby shower invitations. The block of stamps below it, from 2006, captures the likeness of 8 famous animals from children’s literature. Since I read Curious George to my children at breakfast daily, I’m partial to that cute little monkey.

One last word…

I’m sure you’ve heard about the upcoming Forever Stamp showcasing the classic Shel Silverstein book The Giving Tree. I immediately found these to be a fun, quaint little stamp that I probably wouldn’t buy. However, commenters on my instagram shared some passionate feelings about it. This article gets to the heart of the matter. Did you know there was so much controversy about this book?

Hope you enjoyed this tour-de-book-postage! If I missed anything that you particularly love, let me know.