U.S. Postal Service Honors O. Henry With Forever Stamp

Posted on August 6, 2011

The U.S. Postal Service will honor the 150th anniversary of the birth of O. Henry with a 2012 Forever stamp. O. Henry is the pen name of writer William S. Porter, 1862-1910.

Art director and stamp designer Ethel Kessler worked with artist Cap Pannell for the stamp illustration. The O. Henry drawing is based on a photograph of the author as a young man. The background image is the elevated rail in New York City, where many of O. Henry's stories were set.

O. Henry wrote nearly 300 stories, including "The Gift of the Magi," "The Ransom of Red Chief" and "The Cop and the Anthem." O. Henry has an annual anthology named after him, The O. Henry Prize Stories.

The O. Henry stamp will be the 28th stamp in the Literary Arts series. The 2011 Literary Arts series stamp honors Mark Twain. You can see a photograph of the Mark Twain stamp here.