Mick’s Local Post stamp references 1966 novel

The latest new stamp from Mick’s Local Post in Oregon pays homage to Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49.

According to a release included with the copy of the stamp I received, the “1” on the stamp indicates it is intended for local use.

The Crying of Lot 49, which was released in 1966, tells the story of a woman who unearths evidence of a feud between Thurn-und-Taxis Post (a real postal service that operated in Europe from 1806 to 1867) and a competitor known as Trystero or Tristero, which was driven underground by the better known operation. The protagonist suspects Trystero developed into a secret society. Wikipedia says it’s “both an ‘exemplary postmodern text’ and a parody of postmodernism” with plenty of cultural references that would have been widely understood at the time.

While I’ve never read the book myself, the title apparently refers to the auction of a collection of rare local post stamps—an interesting topic to be included in a book intended for general consumption!

Published 2025-04-20