Edgar Allan Poe Featured On Stamp
The U.S. Postal Service has issued a 42-cent Edgar Allan Poe commemorative stamp in one design in a pressure-sensitive adhesive pane of 20 stamps. Designed by Carl T. Herrman, Carlsbad,CA, the stamp is on sale nationwide. Thirty million stamps have been printed.
In 2009, the U.S. Postal Service commemorates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, one of America’s most extraordinary poets and fiction writers. For more than a century and a half, Poe and his works have been praised by admirers around the world, including English poet laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson, who dubbed Poe, “the literary glory of America.” British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle called him “the supreme original short story writer of all time.”
The stamp portrait of Edgar Allan Poe is by award-winning artist Michael J. Deas of New Orleans, whose research over the years has made him well acquainted with Poe’s appearance. In 1989, Deas published The Portraits and Daguerreotypes of Edgar Allan Poe, a comprehensive collection of images featuring authentic likenesses as well as derivative portraits.
Customers have 90 days from the official first day of issuance date to obtain local first day of sale postmarks on new stamps and stationery items. Collectors may request a first day of sale postmarks by mail only. There is no charge for servicing of first day of sale postmarks up to 50 covers. Mail-in customers must supply a self-addressed envelope with sufficient return postage applied to return the serviced covers.
To obtain the first day of sale postmark, mail stationery items bearing the Edgar Allan Poe stamp to Customer Relations USPS at 79 Mid Cape Terr Ste 8 in Cape Coral.
Please specify which city you are requesting a postmark for-Fort Myers or Cape Coral; if not specified, the postmark applied will be for the return address city. All orders must be postmarked by March 17, 2009.
For more information about purchasing stamps, stamps by mail, postal regulations, a free subscription to USA Philatelic magazine, Post Office events, the location of the nearest postal store or contract unit, or for answers to your specific Postal Service questions, contact USPS at 1-800-275-8777, or visit www.usps.com.
An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation 146 million homes and businesses. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.