We know that in big touristic cities (or smaller towns) postcards can get quite expensive, or even hard to find... sometimes all there is left in the local paper shop is a stack of yellowed cards in a corner box.

Fortunately for us, Amazon.com has a great selection of postcard books which will cover your every need! They're also surprisingly cheap yet very good quality, so we decided that a little roundup was in order. Here are 20 of our favorite postcard sets:

• The Art of Star Wars Comics: 100 Collectible Postcards, $12.89
• Hi Postcard Book: 30 Postcards, $9.95
• Wanderlust: 30 Postcards for Insatiable Travelers, $9.95
• Rex Ray Postcard Book, set of 30 postcards, $9.95
• Happy Animal Time: 30 Postcards, $9.95
• Where's Waldo? The Phenomenal Postcard Book, set of 30 postcards, $9.99

• Pantone Postcard Box: 100 Postcards, $13.57
• The Art of Vintage DC Comics: 100 Postcards, $12.89
• Greetings from The Onion: 100 Rectangular Postal Cards, $13.57
• Postcards from Penguin: One Hundred Book Covers in One Box, $16.50

• Secret Weapon: 30 Hand-Painted Spam Postcards (Postcard Book), $9.95
• The Cutest Sneeze in the World - Postcard Box, set of 30 postcards, $9.95
• XOXO: Hugs and Kisses (Postcard Book), set of 30 postcards, $9.95
• If You Don't Love Books, You're Going to Love This Book (someecards): 45 Cards for All Occasions, from Extremely Important to Utterly Pointless, $9.95
• Bunny Suicides (Postcard Book): Little Fluffy Rabbits Who Just Don't Want to Live Anymore, set of 20 postcards, $8.50
• Indexed Postcard Book, set of 30 postcards, $9.95
• Vintage Postcards from Vanity Fair: One Hundred Classic Covers, 1913-1936, $16.50 (available from October 25th, 2011)
• Charley Harper: The Animal Kingdom: A Book of Postcards, set of 30 postcards, $8.76
• Charley Harper: Birds: A Book of Postcards, set of 30 postcards, $8.76
• I Feel a Sin Coming On: 30 Postcards, $9.95

100 postcards for less than $15? I call that a bargain! :) Happy shopping!

We've already told about the artist who spent several years mailing himself strange unwrapped objects. But it seems that the hobby of mailing oneself quirky objects through the postal services has antecedent roots, as writes John Tingey on a newly published book. "The Englishman who posted himself and other curious objects" is the story of a 19th century's man and his passion for the postal services and their quirkiness. Here's the synopsis:

The first impression of W. Reginald Bray (1879-1939) was one of an ordinary middle-class Englishman quietly living out his time as an accountant in the leafy suburb of Forest Hill, London. A glimpse behind his study door, however, revealed his extraordinary passion for sending unusual items through the mail.

In 1898, Bray purchased a copy of the Post Office Guide, and began to study the regulations published quarterly by the British postal authorities. He discovered that the smallest item one could post was a bee, and the largest, an elephant. Intrigued, he decided to experiment with sending ordinary and strange objects through the post unwrapped, including a turnip, a bowler hat, a bicycle pump, shirt cuffs, seaweed, a clothes brush, even a rabbit's skull. He eventually posted his Irish terrier and himself (not together), earning him the name "The Human Letter."

He also mailed cards to challenging addresses some in the form of picture puzzles, others sent to ambiguous recipients at hard to reach destinations all in the name of testing the deductive powers of the beleaguered postman. Over time his passion changed from sending curios to amassing the world's largest collection of autographs, also via the post. By the time he died in 1939, Bray had sent out more than thirty-two thousand postal curios and autograph requests.

The Englishman who posted himself and other curious objects is available at Amazon.com
Pray tell, what was the strangest thing you've ever posted? :)

On the last post, some of you wondered what kind of objects can be sent through mail. Well, here's a cool project that tests the limits of postal services (and their patience too!): To Mr. Cheng.

Artist Eric Ericson, from Sweden, spent a few years sending all kinds of unwrapped objects through the mail: food, a skeleton, a baby doll, books, vinyl records, a pair of glasses, individual playing cards... you name it.

The result is a fascinating minimalist website and book (published in Sweden but we hope they make it available in Amazon soon!).

Here's what the artist had to say on a recent interview with Wired magazine:

Wired.com: You have previously published books of letters, for example one where you sent letters with odd ideas to authorities, like asking a Swedish municipality if it could host a North American Indian tribe. Why are you so fascinated by letters?
Ericson: Sending things is a fun way to communicate, and I love the seriousness in letters. I mean, you would never receive a lawsuit by e-mail. There is something about letters, especially nowadays when they are getting more and more rare, and we’re communicating in other ways instead.