Postcards are on sale everywhere, though the fund of images isn't as imaginative as it could be. Just inside the Basilica di San Marco there's a stall selling a vast spread of good quality cards of the church and its mosaics, and many of the city's other churches offer a small range of good cards. Venice's museums are a letdown, usually offering a choice of a bare half-dozen - the stalls outside the Accademia have a better selection of the gallery's paintings than you'll find in the gallery itself. For something a little more unusual, such as mug-shots of famous doges or ancient views of the city, try Filippi Editore. For reprints of old topographical engravings of Venice at very moderate prices, visit the Armenian island of San Lazzaro.

Most of the decorative paper on sale in Venice comes from Florence or is affiliated to or inspired by Florentine producers, but is none the worse for that. Shops selling these marbled papers, notebooks and so forth are all over the city; more idiosyncratic stuff is sold at the following places.

Alberto Valese: Calle del Teatro 1920, San Marco. Valese not only produces the most luscious marbled papers in Venice, but also transfers the designs onto silk scarves and a variety of ornaments; the marbling technique he uses is a Turkish process called ebr� - hence the alternative name of his shop.

Legatoria Piazzesi: Campiello della Feltrina 2511, San Marco. Located near S. Maria Zobenigo, this long-established paper-producer uses the old wooden-block method of printing; stunning hand-printed papers and cards, and a nice line in pocket diaries, too.

Linda Gonzalez: corner of Campiello San Fantin and Calle Fruttarol. Beautiful leather-bound notebooks and albums.

Paolo Olbi: Calle della Mandola 3653, San Marco. The founder of this shop was largely responsible for the revival of paper marbling; today it sells a whole range of marbled stationery. The nearby Il Prato, at no. 3633, sells a very similar line of goods.

Il Pavone: Salizzada San Samuele 3287. Nice wooden-block printed papers, folders and so on, plus an interesting line in personalized rubber stamps and Ex Libris bookplates.

Polliero: Campo dei Frari 2995, San Polo. A bookbinding workshop that sells patterned paper as well as heavy, leather-bound albums of handmade plain paper.

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