Happy 200th Dickens Birthday

It's the 200th anniversary of Dickens' birth, and 2012 is shaping up to be a Dickensian year, hopefully only in the sense of rereading him, not reliving Dickensian social conditions!

I received an email today notifying me that the Royal Mail is previewing a selection of stamps that celebrate the life and works of Charles Dickens. Unfortunately I can't use UK stamps here in Canada, but they sure are literary, and nice to gaze upon!

The Royal Mail says:

The Dickens Collection, to be released on June 19^th, will mark 2012 being the bicentenary of the novelist’s birth. The issue will consist of ten stamps, as well as a Miniature Sheet and feature iconic characters from some of his most famous novels, including Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and A Tale of Two Cities.

The two sample stamps below feature illustrations from Dickens' first novel, The Pickwick Papers (originally serialised and entitled The Posthumous Papers of Pickwick) and his 1838 novel, Nicholas Nickleby.

Do you still write snail mail letters? If so, do you like to select specific stamps to match each letter? I do, and I really like literary themes. These would be perfect, but, I'll just have to keep using my Anne of Green Gables stamps for now ;) Does your local postal service create special stamps to celebrate literary icons?