When I was a kid in the 1970s, I had book of wonderful/magical tales – the one short story that I loved (and have been looking for) is about a boy who finds these old, strange postage stamps in some box in his house – they have pictures on them that depict beautiful, exotic places that he’s never heard of.
He puts one on an envelope and it gets whisked away through the air, only to return a little while later, roughed up and postmarked. He puts a stamp on a package and it too gets whisked off – only to return, appearing well-travelled and postmarked. Then he puts his old pet cat in a box and puts stamps on it – the box is whisked away to this magical land, only to return with the cat seemingly younger and rejuvenated. I think it may have ended when he sent himself off on the same journey.
I don’t recall the name of the book or this particular story – but I suspect it had “stamps” in it.