Yesterday was the United States Postal Service’s official release date for their new Mark Twain stamp, which got us to thinking about all the authors we’ve seen on stamps, whether on American or foreign postage. There are literally hundreds of these, of course — after all, what occasion doesn’t call for a commemorative stamp? — but we’ve chosen some of our favorites here. Click through to see our collection of authors on stamps, and if you get inspired, head out to your local post office to buy a strip of Mark Twain postage and make your handwritten letters just that much more literary.
US-issued Mark Twain stamp, 2011
Irish-issued William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw, Seamus Heaney and Samuel Beckett stamps, as part of a series commemorating Nobel laureates in literature. [via]
This stamp sheet from the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan features Fulgencio Batista, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, and Ava Gardner, not to mention Ernest Hemingway with his belly button showing. [via]
US-issued stamp of Henry David Thoreau [via]
US-issued stamp of Marianne Moore [via]
US-issued stamp of Edgar Allan Poe [via]
US-issued stamp of Edith Wharton [via]
Italian-issued Sir Francis Bacon Stamp [via]
Agatha Christie stamp, 2006. [via]
Denis Diderot stamp [via]
Swedish-issued Toni Morrison stamp, 1993. [via]
Swedish-issued Derek Walcott stamp, 1992. [via]
Czech Ernest Hemingway stamp. [via]
American Ernest Hemingway stamp. [via]
Monaco-issued Albert Camus stamp, 2007. [via]
Republic of Niger-issued Albert Camus stamp. [via]
German Hermann Hesse stamp, 1978. [via]
French-issued Charles Baudelaire stamp. [via]
US-issued Emily Dickinson stamp. [via]
US-issued Dr. Seuss stamp, 2004. [via]
US-issued Robert Frost stamp, 1974. [via]
Polish Nikolai Gogol stamp. [via]