That Inking Feeling

The tattoo has come a long way since its days as the exclusive decoration of sailors and derelicts. Between David Beckham and practically every contestant on a reality TV show, tattoos cover biceps and midriffs in nearly all walks of life — thanks, in part, to the gays, who helped bring the form into focus in the mid 1990s. Now, Carol Clerk has put together Vintage Tattoos: The Book of Old-School Skin Art (out February 17), a coffee table tome that examines tattooing’s rich and extremely colorful history.

From British explorers coming in contact with exotic, tattooed tribesmen to sailors who donned body art for protection at sea, Clerk supplements the facts with original tattoo “flash” (that’s tat-speak for illustrations meant to be tattooed in a flash) from renowned early tattooists. Each chapter focuses on a particular trend, like the WWII-era pin-up craze that inspired a wave of Bettie Page tattoos.

Vintage Tattoos is as much a tat history for tat lovers (tat for tats!) as it is for anyone into pop culture and art. Gems of tattoo lore transport us to the traveling circuses of the turn of the century (which kick-started America’s tattoo fascination) and hidden backroom parlors which popped up once state governments started banning tattooing in the 1960s. It’s a history lesson worth its ink.


Vintage Tattoos: The Book of Old-School Skin Art will be available February 17 from Universe.