Which came first? · Tricky

Which came first: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer or the Penny Black, the first stamp?

The Penny Black, the first stamp came first, in 1840 (issued). The Adventures of Tom Sawyer followed 36 years later, in 1876 (published).

  1. Second1876

    The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

    book · published

    Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer came out in 1876; Twain claimed it was one of the first novels written on a typewriter.

    Checked against Wikipedia and Wikidata

  2. First1840

    The Penny Black, the first stamp

    stamp · issued

    The Penny Black of 1840 was the world's first adhesive postage stamp.

    Checked against Wikipedia and Wikidata

All which-came-first pairs · About Older Than You Think · Quiz games

Years from Wikidata, each checked against the item’s English Wikipedia article on 2026-10-18. A year stands for what its label says: a founding, a first patent, a premiere.