Herman Melville

Herman Melville was a famous American writer from the 19th Century, born in New York. When he was twenty, he worked on a mercent ship for a while before working on a whaler in the Pacific Ocean. He lived for a while on the French Polynesian Marquesas Islands. He also spent some time in the U.S. Navy. When he returned from his travels, he told family and friends of his exeriences, to which they suggested he write about them.

Melville’s first book, Typee and its sequel, Omoo were travel and adventure narratives of his time in the South Pacific. They were hugely successful, best-sellers of their time. He went on to write Mardi, which is more of a romance, and Redburn. He also wrote a book about his time the U.S. Navy, White Jacket, which is more fictional than the others.

Then in 1851 he wrote Moby-Dick, now his best known work. It was an epic novel that not successful. The publishers sold only a few hundred copies. It would not be until many years after his death before it would be appreciated and be considered one of America’s great works of fiction. In his final years, Melville wrote but did not finish Billy Budd, which was published over thirty years after his death.

Note

At this point, many of the stamps issued commemorate individual people: actors, writers, doctors, and others. Long gone are the days in which most stamps issued depict Washington, Franklin, Lincoln and a few other political leaders. It’s feeling more like a democracy with people who have more to contribute than just political leadership.

In a PBS docudrama, The Adams Chronicles, the John Quincy Adams character said to his sons, “I studied war so that you may live in a world of peace and be able to study science, so that when you have sons one day they may study the arts.” The stamps are reflecting a time when that’s no longer about the struggle for independence, for keeping the union together, for survival. It’s become a time of maturity and satisfaction in what we’ve done and continue to do.

Contains 15 spots: own 15 – 15 unused, 0 used.
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Album or Web Page Last changed May 8, 2025

Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot

own

catalog

subject

description

comment

Statehood

1.1	✓	2080	Hawaii Statehood	20c (mar 1984) comm., multicolor
1.2	✓	2066	Alaska Statehood	20c (jan 1984) comm., multicolor

Other

1.3

✓

2091

St. Lawrence Seaway

20c (jun 1984)
comm., multicolor

Banks & Investment Institutions

2.1	✓	2071	Federal Deposit Ins. Corp.	20c (jan 1984) comm., multicolor
2.2	✓	2075	Credit Union Act of 1934	20c (feb 1984) comm., multicolor

Other

2.3	✓	2074	Soil & Water Conservation	20c (feb 1984) comm., multicolor
2.4	✓	2081	National Archives	20c (apr 1984) definitive, multicolor

Famous Americans

3.1	✓	2073	Carter G. Woodson	20c (feb 1984) comm., multicolor
3.2	✓	2088	Douglas Fairbanks	20c (may 1984) comm., multicolor
3.3	✓	2089	Jim Thorpe	20c (may 1984) comm., dark brown
3.4	✓	2090	John McCormack	20c (jun 1984) comm., multicolor
4.1	✓	2095	Horace Moses	20c (aug 1984) comm., orange & dark brown
4.2	✓	2094	Herman Melville	20c (aug 1984) comm., sage green

Other

4.3	✓	2093	Roanoke Voyage The Elizabeth	20c (jul 1984) comm., multicolor
4.4	✓	2104	Cartoon Family	20c (oct 1984) comm., multicolor

Footnotes

Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.