Re: The Last Word
I used to collect postcards, I stopped about 15 years ago. I collected them from places I had been to, and I particulary liked the "story cards", postcards that had a picture and a good longish description of the photo/place.
I got the postcards from my recent holidays more as a momento, a cheap way of getting a good (professional) image. It also helps in remembering what the name of places are. Who can remember the difference between Santa Maria del Fiore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Maria_del_Fiore) and Basilica di Santa Croce (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_di_Santa_Croce%2C_Florence), both in Florence after 5 weeks, when you had only one day sightseeing in the city. Postcards with their names on them goes a long way to help jog the memory. They are also easier to pack then acquiring the weighty souvenir books that are produced as alot of the information can now be found on the Internet. (I did buy the souvenir books but I looked for the less weighty and smaller ones where possible.
On a side note: I think the coffee table type books would be a god-send as far a a good solid collection. Each book has the advantage of specializing in a particular subject area: eg you could have a book on Rome; one on the Colosseum, another on the Roman Forum; and if you extrapolate this into a collection you can see what I mean.