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Volume 6484
FUN WITH FIRST-DAY COVERS
By John Martin
One of the things I enjoy about my philatelic hobby is being able to come up with fun ideas for making tie-in covers, as well as selecting the stamps to go on those covers.

For my covers bearing the Edgar Rice Burroughs stamp, issued Aug. 17, 2012, I wanted to see how many other stamps I could find to place on the envelope in addition to the ERB stamp, to tie into the subject matter on the cover design.

An obvious one was the Geronimo stamp issued by the Postal Service several years ago, as a tie-in to a cover featuring images of ERB's two Apache novels. But what else besides that was ERB-oriented? Quite a bit, as it turned out. I went through my files of unused stamps and had a ball matching up older stamps with stories and themes covered by ERB in his many novels.

In the past, I've displayed some of my Tarzan covers and a few Mars covers on facebook. Here's a parade of covers from many of ERB's other books, featuring his stamp, plus stamps tied to the subject matter in one way or another.

Note: Five sets were made of these covers. I have a set and two other sets are in the hands of ERB collectors. The two remaining sets, plus other ERB first-day covers, were put in albums and donated to the ERB Collection at the University of Louisville and the ERB section of the museum at Oak Park, Illinois, where fans can see them close up.

Disney's "Lion King" was as bit friendler than many of the lions in ERB's books, 
although some of them warmed up to the human protagonists. 
This "Lion King" stamp is from the "Disney Friendship" stamp sheet issued in 2004.
.

Geronimo was the first "ERB character" to be on a postage stamp. 
He plays a key role in ERB's Apache novels. 
The 29-cent Geronimo stamp was from a 
"Legends fo the West" sheet issued by the Postal Service in 1994.

"The Great Train Robbery" was featured on a sheet of 15 stamps 
commemorating events of the 1900s. 
The "Celebrate the Century" stamp sheet was issued in 1998.
There were good guys and bad guys in ERB's two western novels as well.

Five "Wild Animals," including the white bengal tiger, 
were in a 1992 booklet issued by the U.S. Postal Service.
"My Lord, the Tiger" was a stalker in ERB's "Jungle Girl."
.

The 1996 Prehistoric Animals sheet of stamps issued by the Postal Service
included the Woolly Mammoth among its four subject. 
Woolly Mammoths also roamed Pellucidar, "At the Earth's Core."

The stamp shows the surface of the moon.
ERB's adventures in the first part of
"The Moon Maid" took place inside the moon.

Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera may have resembled
some of Professor Maxon's creations in ERB's "The Monster Men."
This was one of five stamps from a Classic Movie Monster stamp sheet
issued by the Postal Service in 1997.
.
.
.

This stamp, on the 50th anniversary of World War II, 
honors those who were uprooted, including Japanese Americans.
Many of those who lived on the West Coast 
had to spend the war as internees in camps, 
one of which was in Minidoka, Idaho, 
the namesake town for ERB's fantasy tale, "Minidoka," 
which has nothing at all to do with World War II or intern camps.

Five stamps showing images from the Hubble telescope 
were issued by the USPS in 2000. 
These images are right "out there" with the Farthest Star.
.

This is a stamp depicting a Merchant Marine ship, issued along with many others
to honor events of World War II on the 50th anniversary.
The ship in "The Strange Adventure of Mr. Dinnwiddie," a short story in ERB's 
"Forgotten Tales of Love and Murder," was actually an ocean liner.

Johnny LaFitte played high school football before becoming a pirate. 
This 1969 6-cent stamp was specifically issued 
to honor the 100th anniversary of college football.

ERB wrote historical fiction about the loose cannon Caligula 
who terrorized Rome as Emperor. 
Among his exploits was to declare war on the god, Neptune.

Barney Custer was a corn farmer in Nebraska before venturing to Lutha 
where he was mistaken for "The Mad King."
.

ERB wrote "Beware!" which was rewritten by editors as 
"The Scientists' Revolt." 
The events, of course, took place on Earth, so an Earth stamp works fine.

Edwin Austin Abbey painted this medievel scene 
which is on the stamp sheet of American Illustrators issue in 2001.
It is probably the most appropriate U.S. stamp to go along with 
ERB's "The Outlaw of Torn," about medievel Britain.

This stamp honored so-called "Ash Can Painters," not boxing, 
but boxing was one of the subjects, so the stamp ties in with "The Mucker,"
featuring Billy Byrne, who was a boxer, among other things.
.

The "Jurassic Park" stamp was one of 15 on a 
USPS "Celebrate the Century" pane 
commemorating events of the 1990s.
.
.
.

This 29-cent Venus stamp is from the 1991 booklet
featuring pictures of planets that have been explored. 
Pluto, considered a planet at the time, also had a stamp in this booklet 
which noted that it was "Not Yet Explored." 
One of those stamps accompanied the New Horizons space probe of 2017. 
After that, the Post Office issued a new Pluto stamp called "Pluto Explored."

The 1940s saw cameras bring action into the home, 
via television, in addition to the movie theaters. 
Any movies made by ERB's "The Girl from Hollywood"
would have eventually shown up on the small screen.

This beast was adversary to Nu, the son of Nu, in ERB's "The Eternal Lover." 
The stamp was one of four on a page of 20
issued by the Postal Service in a 1996 Prehistoric Animals set.
.

New York and Chicago were the settings for ERB's "The Efficiency Expert," 
so an Illinois stamp from the USPS 
"Greetings from America" sheet of 2002 adorns this cover.

Neysa McMein's painting of a young lady was one of 20 stamps issued on an 
American Illustrators pane by the USPS IN 2001. 
She's just one more of the "girls" to go along with some of ERB's "girls."

Nadara, ERB's "Cave Girl," was menaced by Nagoola, the black panther.
On this cover, her adversary becomes a Florida panther, 
one of the creatures feautured on a sheet of 15 stamps 
issued in 1996 to spotlight Endangered Species.
.

ERB's frozen caveman brought back to life tried his hand in the boxing ring, 
but never had to go up against the likes of Rocky Marciano, 
who retired unfeated from the ring. 
The stamp was on the 1999 sheet of 15 "Celebrate the Century" stamps
issued by the Postal service, celebrating the 1950s decade.

More from John Martin's Collection


Darlene Altschul drew this chimpanzee for a Tarzana, Calif., Aug. 17, 2012,
first-day-of-issue cancellation for the Edgar Rice Burroughs stamp.
It also includes the personal postmark she used at that time.


Darlene Altschul is a postal art enthusiast in the Greater L.A. area.
She snapped this photo of the Tarzana Post Office in 2004.
The occasion was the "Great ACE Day," a special mailing event for the postal art club,
the Art Cover Exchange. The postmark on this one is from nearby Thousand Oaks, Calif.


When the U.S. Department of the Post Office became the U.S. Postal Service on July 1, 1971,
a stamp was issued to note the occasion and
first-day cancellations were obtained at many post offices, including Tarzana.


E. Louise Holmquist was Tarzana's first postmaster, when it was opened in a store on Dec. 12, 1930.
She signed a lot of Airmail envelopes which had a cachet advertising Tarzana as "The Gateway to the Sea."
In his ERB biography, author Robert W. Fenton notes that ERB himself coined the slogan, which has yet to be fulfilled.


STAMP FEATURES IN ERBzine
Story Behind the Stamp by John Martin
http://www.erbzine.com/mag43/4395.html
ERBzine Stamp Dedication Ceremony Coverage in Tarzana
http://www.erbzine.com/mag41/4106.html
First impressions of the Stamp
http://www.erbzine.com/mag37/3718.html
Tarzan Stamp Previews
http://www.erbzine.com/mag36/3611.html

STAMP FEATURES IN ERBzine
Story Behind the Stamp by John Martin
http://www.erbzine.com/mag43/4395.html
John Martin's Fun With First Day Covers
 http://www.ERBzine.com/mag64/6484.html
The Stamp Story by John Martin
 http://www.ERBzine.com/mag64/6483.html
Pushing the Envelope Series I
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6781.html
Pushing the Envelope Series II
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6725.html
Pushing the Envelope Series III
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6725a.html
Pushing the Envelope Series IV
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6725b.html
Pushing the Envelope Series V
 http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6725c.html
Pushing the Envelope: Pt. VI
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6725d.html
Pushing the Envelope: Pt. VII
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6725e.html
Pushing the Envelope: Pt. VIII
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6725f.html
Pushing the Envelope: Pt. IX
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6725g.html
Pushing the Envelope: Pt. X
http://www.erbzine.com/mag67/6725h.html


BILL HILLMAN
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