Author Saul Bellow, leaders of the Underground Railroad and high-definition images from the James Webb Space Telescope highlight the 2024 stamp-issuing program of the U.S. Postage Service, the quasi-governmental corporation announced Monday.
The USPS released “a partial list” of 86 stamps planned for next year and said others will be revealed in coming weeks and months.
Bellow, who died in 2005, was a Nobel laureate in literature who won three National Book Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, was called “The greatest American author ever, in my view” by the late Martin Amis, one of Britain’s most notable writers. His stamp, intended to prepay a three-ounce letter rate, shows the author of “Humboldt’s Gift” and “Mr. Sammler’s Planet” in a pen-ink-and-watercolor portrait based on photos taken in 1982. The background is a Chicago street scene, reflecting his home for most of his life.
Ten Americans involved in the Underground Railroad — the resistance movement that helped slaves escape the South — will appear on stamps next year. Honorees are both the famous and the lesser-known: Catharine Coffin, Frederick Douglass, Thomas Garrett, Laura Haviland, Lewis Hayden, Harriet Jacobs, William Lambert, Jermain Loguen, William Still and Harriet Tubman.
Two high-value stamps, a $9.65 Priority Mail and a $28.75 Priority Mail Express issue, will feature space images from the James Webb Space Telescope. The “Pillars of Creation” formation within the Eagle Nebula appears on the $9.65 stamp, while “a digitally colored depiction of the invisible bands of mid-infrared light emitted by the Cosmic Cliffs of the Carina Nebula” appears on the higher-value stamp.
Pinback buttons — a staple of the 1960s — are depicted on 10 first-class “forever” stamps with themes of love, peace and fun among others. Forever stamps, as most first-class stamps are now designated, will always prepay one ounce of a first-class letter, regardless of future rate increases.
Following a recent policy of issuing religious-themed holiday season stamps in alternate years, the agency said it would issue a Christmas stamp; a Hanukkah stamp and a Kwanzaa stamp.
Constance Baker Motley, the first Black federal judge, will appear on the 47th stamp in the Black Heritage commemorative series.
Other planned stamp releases will feature images of sea turtles, Shaker designs highlighting simplicity and utility, horses, autumn colors, floral designs, and a stamp to promote conservation of manatees.
Along with the various commemorative stamps planned for the new year, the USPS said it would begin a new series of regular, or “definitive,” postage stamps showing flowers, beginning with a fringed tulip, daffodils, peonies, red tulips, and poppies and coneflowers.
Dawn Hamann, president of the American Topical Association, a group of stamp collectors who organize their holdings by the subjects depicted, said the new program offers many opportunities to these specialists.
“Topical collectors are very excited about the upcoming stamps for 2024—flowers, manatees, hummingbirds, Underground Railroad, sea turtles, horses and more. The American Topical Association has a checklist for every topic shown on next year’s stamps, creating a perfect opportunity to begin collecting one or more of those topics,” she told The Washington Times via email.
A detailed listing of the 2024 USPS stamps announced thus far is online at https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2023/1023-usps-reveals-stamps-for-2024.htm.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.