Kenji Shimizu wrote:

> Finaly, my copy of the Bell-cahn postcard arrived... it's a ...uhmm...
> rather "strange" post card...
> (you might want to take care when opening the envelope...) the postcard
> was surely in there, but it was no ordinary postcard... within the
> postcard, there was Bell-chan, and holly-bell.... and holly-bell had
> wings.... and on the wings... they had some "substance"... 9some white
> subsctance... i don't know what it is......) it made the wings look like
> 3D.....
>
> ..I wonder who'd be stupid enough to actually send off this post card
> to someone else....
>
> Kenji Shimizu.

It's only a description of a picture presentation format.  The original
illustrated "postcards" were hand painted and the text was hand written by
people specially hired because of their penmanship.  I had the privilege
several years ago to actually meet a person that worked for a bulk mail
house that was actually hired many years ago based solely upon a penmanship
competition.  The idea was that hand written envelopes were more likely to
opened by executives than were type written ones as they appeared to be
personal communications (and not to be delegated to the clerical staff).
The original "postcards" were reused by peeling off the stamp on one side
and placing a fresh stamp on the other (where the alternate address would be
found).  I have seen some of the originals and while most of the artwork is
pretty cheesey and homespun, the intent was to provide some form of personal
communication that looked good (or amused) for a very low cost.  Later,
especially in Europe, artists enhanced their income by illustrating on the
side and some of these sketches (by very famous individuals) fetch quite a
sum.

Dave M.