Mark Twain Immortalized on Forever Stamp

Reprinted with Permission

What: First-Day-of-Issue dedication ceremony of the Mark Twain 44-cent 
Commemorative First-Class Stamp. The event is free.

When:10:00 a.m., Saturday, June 25, 2011

Where: Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, 200 Block of Hill Street, Hannibal MO 63401-3537

Who:James H. Bilbray, Member, Board of Governors, U.S. Postal Service

Henry Sweets, Curator, The Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum

David F. Martin, District Manager, Gateway District, U.S. Postal Service

Jim Waddell, portrayer, Mark Twain

Background: With the 27th stamp in the Literary Arts series, the Postal Service honors 

Mark Twain (1835-1910), author of beloved works such as Adventures 

of Huckleberry Finn, widely considered one of the greatest novels in 

American literature. In this tale of an abused boy and a runaway slave 

who become friends while riding a raft down the Mississippi River, Twain 

addressed issues of race and racism in America with a frankness that is 

still startling more than a hundred years later.

Art Director and Stamp Designer Phil Jordan collaborated with stamp 

artist Gregory Manchess to create the stamp design. Manchess based 

his portrait of Twain on a photograph taken around 1907. The stamp 

background evokes several of Twain’s works set along the Mississippi 

River of his youth.