Tarya in Helsinki found this card for me in the Post Museum, which houses not only collections of postcards, but other mail-related ephemera, and even mail processing equipment from days past. This card is a reproduction of a postcard from 1910 and, not only does it look old, it feels old, and it’s even the right size — smaller than the postcards of today.

Certainly this photograph is posed, and not for a family portrait; it has an overabundance of cleavage for portraits of this time period. But it’s a wonderful image of days gone by, when letters were much more commonplace. I write letters myself, so feel free to write me a letter of your own. But first, take a look at the other wonderful Wednesday postcards at Postcard Perfect.

GirlZoot sent this stunning picture postcard along, but was at a loss to guess what the purpose of this press conference might have been. Isn’t it obvious? It’s about the Golden Globes.

This photo by Stefano De Luigi was an entry in the 1996 World Press Photo of the Year Contest, but won no prize. However, Mr. De Luigi has won prizes for three of his other photos in other years.

Susan in Ohio sent me this terrific vintage postcard, circa mid-1960s and published by Dexter Press. The models in the photo clearly appreciate just how campy the final product was to turn out. I love it!

Sheri in sunny South Florida thought I would enjoy seeing these lovely ladies, and I felt sure that you would as well. The English description on the card reads simply, “Sawasdee, Thai Courtesy for welcome.”  There’s an accompanying description in Chinese which is much longer. Sadly, it appears that the Postal Service was a little rough on these two.

Petra sends these frilly fillies and srdečnė přáni from the Czech Republic which, as near as I can tell, works out to be the English equivalent of “warm wishes.” From the description, also in Czech, it appears to be a copy of a postcard in some sort of postal museum.

Petra is young but her handwriting in English is old-fashioned, reminiscent of what one might see on hundred-year-old American cards, and goes with the postcard beautifully.

Warm wishes to you on this Postcard Friendship Friday, and my warmest wishes to my friend Marie Isabelle, PFF’s founding maîtresse.

Isobel in New South Wales was kind enough to send me this First Day of Issue Christmas postcard from Australia, cancelled at St. Marys, New South Wales in 2008. (You can see another 2008 Christmas maxicard in this series today at Wild Postcards.)

The 2009 version of this series is a little more abstract, but beautiful nonetheless; it comes to me from Thea in Queensland. It’s another First Day of Issue maxicard; this year they were cancelled at St. Marys, Tasmania.

My thanks to you for your visit, and my best wishes for a blessed Christmas.

This very beautiful, very posh “Flower Fairies” Christmas card from Marks & Spencer arrived today from my correspondent in Manama, Bahrain. You can’t tell from the scan, but the areas in black are actually gold leaf.

This is the second Christmas card I’ve received from abroad that’s tiny; like the last one (Dreaming of a White Christmas, from Singapore), it’s only four inches square.

As good as a nod to a blind bat. Kris always manages to find the best cards. If this gal’s pose looks a little awkward, or if she looks a little pixellated, it’s because this is a lenticular “stereo” card: the view changes depending upon the angle at which you view it. Observed from an angle, this young lady has no wink and a Mona Lisa smile; looked at straight on, you get something close to the image above. Please make allowances for the not-quite-true-to-life view provided by the scanner.

This postcard is a little thicker than average, in order to create the effect, so naturally the Postal Service did their best to destroy it.

This handmade card arrived today from Angie, a self-described working mother and military wife. No word on how she found the time to create this, but I think it’s terrific. She says, “I didn’t have any girlie cards so I made you one!”

How about those shoes? I imagine they’re what Wonder Woman wears when she’s lounging around the house.

Klaudia sends this pretty girl from Poland, with the idea that it was a little joke on me — that this girl is not what I had in mind for this blog. Well, the joke is on her, because it’s undeniable that this is a cutie-pie — and apparently a member of the Gene Kelly Fan Club.

This postcard was published by Edycja Świętego Pawla (which translates as Saint Paul Editions, I think), which seems to be primarily a publisher of religious texts. The Polish text reads, “Yes, I feel wonderful today, the joy is radiating from me!”