About This Stamp
A 20-cent commemorative stamp honoring American author Horatio Alger on the 150th anniversary of his birth was issued on April 30, 1982, in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. The First Day of Issue ceremony was held at the George Washington Motor Lodge Convention Center during the annual convention of the Horatio Alger Society.
Robert Hallock of Newtown, Connecticut, designed the stamp based on the book cover from the Ragged Dick series of six books, which first brought Alger national prominence in 1867 and 1868. Mr. Hallock adapted the illustration from an early Alger edition found in the historical collection at the Pequot Library in Southport, Connecticut. Clarence Holbert modeled the stamp. It was printed in the intaglio process, with 50 stamps per pane.