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The Tattoo History Sourcebook
 
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The Tattoo History Sourcebook [Paperback]

Steve Gilbert
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
RRP: £21.99
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Frequently Bought Together

The Tattoo History Sourcebook + The World of Tattoo: An Illustrated History + The Mammoth Book of Tattoos (Mammoth Books)
Price For All Three: £49.93

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Product details

  • Paperback: 216 pages
  • Publisher: Juno Publishing; illustrated edition edition (31 Aug 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1890451061
  • ISBN-13: 978-1890451066
  • Product Dimensions: 21.1 x 1.5 x 27.9 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 372,117 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Steve Gilbert
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Product Description

Product Description

The Tattoo History Source Book is an exhaustingly thorough, lavishly illustrated collection of historical records of tattooing throughout the world, from ancient times to the present. Collected together in one place, for the first time, are texts by explorers, journalists, physicians, psychiatrists, anthropologists, scholars, novelists, criminologists, and tattoo artists.

A brief essay by Gilbert sets each chapter in an historical context. Topics covered include the first written records of tattooing by Greek and Roman authors; the dispersal of tattoo designs and techniques throughout Polynesia; the discovery of Polynesian tattooing by European explorers; Japanese tattooing; the first 19th-century European and American tattoo artists; tattooed British royalty; the invention of the tattooing machine; and tattooing in the circus.

The anthology concludes with essays by four prominent contemporary tattoo artists: Tricia Allen, Chuck Eldridge, Lyle Tuttle, and Don Ed Hardy. The references at the end of each section will provide an introduction to the extensive literature that has been inspired by the ancient-but-neglected art of tattooing. Because of its broad historical context, The Tattoo History Source Book will be of interest to the general reader as well as art historians, tattoo fans, neurasthenics, hebephrenics, and cyclothemics.

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Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This is an amazing book filled with interesting history of the tattoo art. If you're looking for the ultimate knowledge of the history of the most wonderful artwork today you hae to buy this book. I have searched throughout whole Sweden for books such as this and after a long time I met a tattooartist who showed me this book and that's when I knew my journey of searching was ower.
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Amazon.com:  9 reviews
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful
the book to grab if you can have only one on tattooing 13 July 2003
By Merrily Baird - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Were you a fan of tattoing who had been stranded on that proverbial desert isle and allowed only half dozen favorite musical discs and but one or two books, it's a good bet that you would want Steve Gilbert's "Tattoo History: A Source Book" to keep you company.

A somewhat uneven quality of writing and of academic documentation mark this book. Even so, "Tattoo History: A Source Book" is an impressive work that reflects serious research, and it is a tour de force in comfortably handling material that ranges widely over time and space. On a subject that is so often dominated by photographs and essays that emphasize above all Japanese-style tattooing, it is a delight to learn as well of the long tradition of tattooing in the Pacific Isles, of the role tattoos played in the ancient Middle East, and of early 20th-century tattooing in the West. Gilbert's extensive use of source material--efectively translated from many languages--lends the book its gravitas and contributes significantly to his success in instilling in the reader an increased sense of respect for the tattoo arts.

Finally I should note that even if this book did not open new vistas for the reader, the essays which bookend "Tattoo History" would alone be worth the price of admission. Gilbert's opener, "Confessions of a Tattoo Addict," although but two pages in length, is an evocative essay that relates a fascination with tattoos to his coming of age in the 1940s. Meanwhile, the lengthier closing essay by Don Ed Hardy documents the resurgence of tattooing over the past several decades, the cultural cross-fertilization that has occurred, and the slow but growing acceptance of tattooing as a legitimate art form by the more conventional arts world.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Instant classic 12 Aug 2002
By kevnm - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Not just a compendium of illustrations, this collection of essays, interviews, historical accounts and yes, some nice pictures, pulls together a great deal of the cultural history and tradition associated with tattooing. Well written, very wide-reaching and very entertaining. Gilbert is careful to detail where all his information comes from, adding to the work's authority and allowing interested readers to look more deeply into specific topics. This is a winner.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
awesome book! 2 April 2001
By Tara Devlin - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
While I can not even come close to the great review that the previous reviewer wrote, I can in fact tell you that this is one of the most interesting books that I have read on the history of tattoos. I myself have 3 tattoos and since I got them, I have been enthralled with the history that surrounds them as well as trying to figure out where the stigma that is currently attached to them came from. I sat down to just leaf through this book and I had to read the entire thing, it was so completely interesting. If you have any interest in tattooing at all, this is a must read!
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