Old postcards are a perfect source of future nostalgia – they are always images of something that was once meant to be exciting. Very rarely, the picture still captivates. More often, the concrete hotel or equestrian statue look tatty and boring. But no matter how shabby the postcards, there is always something about the feel of them that takes us back to those dull, fondly-remembered childhood vacations. And maybe that’s why the postcard makes a perfect, melancholy metaphor for Love.

Marian Bantjes has gathered together around 480 old postcards to send as Valentines, some previously un-sent, others complete with franked archaic stamps. Each is elegantly tagged on the picture side with an elaborate silver monogram and redly stamped on the writing side with a Happy Valentine’s message.

And what else to do with a collection of ephemera than disperse them across the world – ephemerize them again maybe? Of course an ideal (late) Valentine’s gift would be Marian Bantje’s essay collection I Wonder, a book that should absolutely be judged by its cover, and by each one of its inside pages – perhaps one of the single most gorgeous books ever printed. XOXOXO