A More Perfect Stamp: Designing the USPS's Emancipation-Proclamation Art

The stamp for the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s freeing of the slaves was made with modern graphic concepts, but antique printing methods. The art for it had to stand on its own. And Gail Anderson’s striking design, which resembles—and was created in the same manner as—a 19th-century wood type poster, certainly does.

“I only dreamt about creating a more authentic letterpress final product,” Anderson said. Sowhen Alcalá suggested approaching Jim Sherraden, proprietor of Hatch Prints, a famous Nashville poster printer that was founded in the late 19th century and known for its original wood type printing for books, records, and more,