‘Beautiful, inspiring and informative’ – Bidisha
London tattoo legend Lal Hardy reveals the fascinating hidden world of tattoo, past and present.
With a wealth of previously unpublished photographs, details and anecdotes, Tattoo preserves many unique and valuable items of tattoo culture, including:
· Historical stencils and flash
· Customised machines, traditional hand-tools and animal-marking equipment
· Collector’s cards, bubblegum cards and transfers
· Memorabilia and tributes relating to tattoo legends such as George Burchett and The Great Omi
· Postcards, toys, ornaments, T-shirts and other merchandise
· Supply catalogues, magazines, books and art
· Rare ephemera – awards, badges, business cards, convention passes, postage stamps and hand-drawn signs
LAL HARDY was born in London in 1958. He opened New Wave Tattoo in north London’s Muswell Hill when he was just twenty-one years old. Lal is part of an international community of highly respected tattoo artists. This is his sixth book.
MATT LODDER is an expert on body art and body modification. He is the author of Tattoo: An Art History and is Director of American Studies at the University of Essex.
London tattoo legend Lal Hardy reveals the fascinating hidden world of tattoo, past and present.
With a wealth of previously unpublished photographs, details and anecdotes, Tattoo preserves many unique and valuable items of tattoo culture, including:
· Historical stencils and flash
· Customised machines, traditional hand-tools and animal-marking equipment
· Collector’s cards, bubblegum cards and transfers
· Memorabilia and tributes relating to tattoo legends such as George Burchett and The Great Omi
· Postcards, toys, ornaments, T-shirts and other merchandise
· Supply catalogues, magazines, books and art
· Rare ephemera – awards, badges, business cards, convention passes, postage stamps and hand-drawn signs
LAL HARDY was born in London in 1958. He opened New Wave Tattoo in north London’s Muswell Hill when he was just twenty-one years old. Lal is part of an international community of highly respected tattoo artists. This is his sixth book.
MATT LODDER is an expert on body art and body modification. He is the author of Tattoo: An Art History and is Director of American Studies at the University of Essex.
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Reviews
Tattoo: An Illustrated Miscellany, is it any good? You bet your arse it is! . . . A tattoo museum in book form, if you love tattoos, love history and find fascination in curiousities, then you will love this book . . .
I can't overstate how much I love this book, the quality of the finish is superb, it not only looks good, it feels good in your hands. The written parts of each chapter are just long enough to keep your interest and not long enough to have you abandoning it half way through to look at the pictures....and it is the pictures that had me enthralled throughout and to which I keep returning.
If you have any interest in tattoos, tattooing and how the art got to where it is today you should get yourself a copy before you do anything else.
This beautifully presented and illustrated book shows the development of a sub-culture that is not mainstream. It both celebrates and explains its enduring appeal, and walks the reader through more than 100 years of history from the tattoo pen designed by Thomas Edison to toy wrestling figurines.
Featuring items from private archives, this new book reveals the fascinating hidden world of tattoos, past and present. Including previously unpublished photography and anecdotes, Tattoo showcases the history of tattooing through a variety of items: from old hand-made tools, to stencils and flash art, to postcards, convention passes, business cards and much more.