Edgar Rice Burroughs Honored With Forever Stamp

Posted on August 20, 2012

Author Edgar Rice Burroughs has been honored with a Forever stamp by the U.S. Post Office. The author is best known for his Tarzan of the Apes and John Carter of Mars series.

This stamp shows Tarzan clinging to a tree by holding onto a vine. 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 Tarzan artwork is an interpretation of the character by artist Sterling Hundley.

Burroughs's Tarzan stories have been published in magazines, syndicated in newspapers, and republished in more than 24 books. 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. Burroughs is also remembered for writing historical fiction and several popular series of science fiction tales, such as his John Carter of Mars series, which recently arrived on the big screen as Disney's John Carter.