Washington Irving, 1783-1859, Famous American Authors, First Day of Issue
The Washington Irving commemorative stamp was originally issued by the United States Post Office on January 29, 1940 at Tarrytown, New York, site of Irving’s Sunnyside estate and near the site of his famed The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The stamp features a portrait of Irving and the tools of the writer’s trade – a quill pen, an inkwell, a scroll and a book. It was one of the first stamps issued as part of the Famous Americans series. Other American authors featured on their own stamps included James Fenimore Cooper, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott and Samuel L. Clemens.
