"The book is full of triumphs...pieces of historical discovery...there is so much here that humbly changes history."
- DR MATT LODDER
This new 255 page book – written by British tattoo historian Terry Manton – will introduce the reader to the pioneering ladies and gentlemen who earned their living from tattooing during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Not just to the well-known tattoo artist such as Sutherland Macdonald, Tom Riley, Alfred South and George Burchett, but to the lesser known pioneers of electric tattooing like George Bigmore, Charlie Bell, Bill Mansford, Cecil and Manley Rhodes, Alex Gordon, Bill Donnelly, Leo Heath, Bob Devine, Alex Gillmore and many, many more.
Learn the incredible story of Lucy Battell – one of Britain’s earliest female tattoo artists – and read of the early professors of tattooing who operated in the ports of Cardiff, Portsmouth, Liverpool, Chatham, Dover, and Plymouth and in the military garrison towns of Folkestone and Aldershot.
Meet the colourful tattooed ladies and gentlemen who travelled with the circus and fairground and make the acquaintance of the entrepreneurial showmen who promoted them.
Over 500 images, including rare adverts, business cards, stencils, designs, photographs, shop fronts and tattoo machines.
