Provided is a stamp having a housing defining an opening, and a printhead and ink cartridge arrangement housed within the housing. The printhead is displaceable between a protected position within the housing and a printing position in which the printhead is exposed via the opening. The stamp also includes control circuitry configured to control the printhead for printing preprogrammed indicia on a print media, the control circuitry including a memory for storing said indicia. The stamp further includes a mechanical arrangement with a governor for displacing the printhead from the protected position to the printing position, said governor regulating motion of the printhead during printing.