USPS Mark Twain Stamp is Now Out

World famous author and humorist Mark Twain was honored on a postage stamp on June 25, 2011 by the United States Postal Service (USPS).

This commemorative First-class Forever stamp is the 27th stamp in the Literary Arts series.

The First Day of Issue ceremony was held at the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum in Hannibal, MO.

Postal Service Board of Governors member James H. Bilbray said that “Our literary tribute this year rightfully honors Mark Twain, author of one of the greatest novels in American literature and the man whom William Faulkner called ‘the first truly American writer’.. Mark Twain was a rarity, as he was one of the first writers to exploit the vernacular voice in his books, using the speech of common Americans.”

Mark Twain (1835—1910), is the author of great works such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest novels in American literature.

The postage stamp portrait features an old Mark Twain; the background showing a steamboat evokes a way of life along the Mississippi River that played a big role in many of Twain’s works, as well as in his own life. Art director and stamp designer Phil Jordan collaborated with stamp artist Gregory Manchess, who based his portrait of Twain on a photograph taken in the year 1907.