Tirant lo Blanc is a chivalric romance written by Joanot Martorell in the 1460's.   Martorell was the son of the chamberlain to the King of Spain, Frnacesc Martorell. He was born in Valencia about 1413 and died in 1468. The novel was written in Catalan, and was called a "translation" from English to Portuguese to Catalan by the author. This is a device as it is in Don Quixote. Cervantes greatly admired the novel, calling it "the best book of its kind in the world." The first edition of the novel was 715 copies printed in 1490.
     The stamp was issued in 1990 to mark the 500th anniversary of the publication of the novel.