The World of Tattoo: An Illustrated History

by Maarten Hesselt van Dinter

Despite a growing fascination with tattooing among social scientists--and the popularity of tattoos themselves in general--the practice of tattooing has lacked a comprehensive historical record. Until very recently, there was no good context for writing a serious world history of tattooing. This new volume conveys the richness of the history of tattooing from antiquity to the present day.
Unlike most other tattoo books that describe one aspect this book conveys the overall picture. It takes you to each of the seven continents with descriptions of their tattoo history and tattoo practices. Thus the book provides the reader with a truly global view of tattooing. It adds new information and new examples and insights that give the reader a new perspective.

By combining empirical history, powerful cultural analysis, and a highly readable style, the author adds an important step to the ongoing effort of writing a meaningful cultural history of tattooing. He does not draw new conclusions or present shocking new theories, but suggests and invites the reader to form his own opinions. This publication presents the reader with a vast amount of textual and visual information. From the well known examples from Tahiti to rarely seen Chinese tattoos, from the Ice Maiden to modern day Western tattoos--they are all there. Many of the approximately 400 color illustrations are unique images that have never been published before.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Photography

300 pages, Hardcover

First published June 28, 2005

About the author

Maarten Hesselt van Dinter is a cultural anthropologist and one of the leading Dutch experts on tattoos. His research for his book "The World of Tattoo: An Illustrated History" took over 8 years to complete.

Reviews

[Dakota · Rating 5 out of 5]

For any tattoo lover this is a very In-depth look into unconventional (that is as a westerner) tattoos, it goes through the history and origination of tattooing in the different country's and goes into detail for the use of the art in cultures, the pictures displayed in the book are one of a kind and most of the designs themselves are unique and rare, if you are a tattoo love and/or artist I suggest buying a copy if this book (as well as his other design books on specific cultures because the come with CDs that have all the design burned on for your use).

[Nomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seems to provide a decent overview of tattoo tradition in many different cultures, however the chapter on tattoos in Japan and China (which is my principal area of interest) is extremely shallow and full of cliches and stereotypes. It generally raises a big red flag when a text about tattoos and Japan opens with a paragraph on the yakuza. The pictures are nice, though.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Photos were brilliant! Learned a lot from the text, though writing seemed uneven and relied on generalizations.

Great book to begin a cultural study of tattoos.

[Philippe Lenain · Rating 3 out of 5]

very interesting worldwide overview of tatoos. presentation by continent / country makes it a bit repetitive.