US #5831

2024 Saul Bellow – Literary Arts Series

• The 34th stamp in the Literary Arts series

• Honors award-winning novelist Saul Bellow

Stamp Category:  Commemorative

Series:  Literary Arts

Value:  $1.16 Three-Ounce Mail Rate

First Day of Issue:  February 6, 2024

First Day City:  Chicago, Illinois

Quantity Issued:  8,000,000

Printed by:  Banknote Corporation of America

Printing Method:  Offset, Microprint

Format:  Panes of 20

Tagging:  Phosphor, Block Tag

Why the stamp was issued:  To celebrate the literary works and life of Saul Bellow.

About the stamp design:  Pictures a portrait of Saul Bellow in pen, ink, and watercolor. It was based on photographs of Bellow from 1982. The background pictures a street in Chicago, the city Bellow lived in for much of his life. Original artwork by Joe Ciardiello.

First Day City:  There was no “headquarters” First Day of Issue Ceremony for this stamp, but the First Day of Issue Postmark was from Chicago, Illinois, where Bellow once lived and worked as a professor at the University of Chicago.

About the Literary Arts Series:  The Literary Arts Series began in 1979 with a John Steinbeck stamp. The objective of the Literary Arts Series is to honor America’s most renowned authors. As the USPS put it, “These skillful wordsmiths spun our favorite tales – and American history along with them.” The series honors both well-known and lesser-known authors, making it like an encapsulation of America’s rich and varied literary history.

History the stamp represents:  Saul Bellow (1915-2005) was born in Quebec, Canada, to Jewish immigrants from Russia. Even from a young age, he loved to read. His favorites included the Torah, Shakespeare, 19th-century Russian novels, and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It’s said this book was what inspired Bellow to become a writer.

At age nine, Bellow and his family moved to Chicago, the backdrop for many of his novels. For college, Bellow wanted to study literature, but experienced antisemitism in the English department at Northwestern University, leading him to study anthropology and sociology instead.

While serving in World War II, Bellow finished his first novel (Dangling Man) in 1944. He received the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 1948 and moved to Paris for several years before eventually making his way back to Chicago. His novel Herzog (1964) was his first bestseller, and it earned him the International Literary Prize the following year. He was the first American to receive the award.

Bellow’s novels went on to earn him many prestigious awards, including the 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature. In 2024, he was pictured on the 34th postage stamp in the US Literary Arts Series. He truly was one of America’s greatest writers.