About This Stamp
In 1912, Edgar Rice Burroughs published his first story, “Under the Moons of Mars,” and his first Tarzan story, “Tarzan of the Apes.” The U.S. Postal Service joins with fans around the world in celebrating the centennial of a cultural phenomenon.
This stamp shows Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs’s most famous literary creation, clinging to a tree by a vine in his left hand and wielding a weapon in his right. Burroughs appears in profile in the background. Hulbert Burroughs, the author's son, took the 1934 photograph that served as the basis for the stamp portrait of Burroughs. The depiction of Tarzan is an interpretation of the character by artist Sterling Hundley.
In the past century, Burroughs’s Tarzan stories have been published in magazines, syndicated in newspapers, and republished in more than 24 books, while the Tarzan character has grown into a phenomenon beyond the printed word. In 1918, the silent film Tarzan of the Apes became the first of more than 50 Tarzan movies. Tarzan also became the subject of a comic strip beginning in 1929, radio series in the 1930s and the 1950s, and several television series in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Today, Tarzan is a ubiquitous part of American popular culture.
Burroughs is also remembered for writing historical fiction and several popular series of science fiction tales, especially the 11 books in his famous “John Carter of Mars” series. A new film adaptation of Burroughs’s Mars series is scheduled for release in 2012.
This stamp is Sterling Hundley's second project for the U.S. Postal Service. Phil Jordan was the art director.
The Edgar Rice Burroughs stamp is being issued as a Forever® stamp in self-adhesive sheets of 20. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate. At the time of issuance, the Edgar Rice Burroughs stamps are being sold at a price of 45 cents each, or $9.00 per sheet.
Tarzan™ and Edgar Rice Burroughs™ licensed by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Tarzana, California.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Phil Jordan
Phil Jordan grew up in New Bern, North Carolina, and attended East Carolina University. After Army service in Alaska, he graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in visual communications. He worked in advertising and in design at a trade association before joining Beveridge and Associates, Inc., where he provided art direction for corporate, institutional, and government design projects. A partner in the firm, he left after 18 years to establish his own design firm where he managed projects for USAir, NASA, McGraw-Hill, IBM, and Smithsonian Books, among others. He was Design Director of Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine for 15 years. His work appeared in numerous exhibitions and publications such as Graphis and Communications Arts. A past president of the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, he was an art director for the U.S. Postal Service from 1991 to 2014. A resident of Falls Church, Virginia, he is a retired glider pilot and a member of the Skyline Soaring Club.