Tales of the Tattooed: An Anthology of Ink (British Library Tales of the Weird Book 13)

‘Even to insert a single drop of colour was no easy task. At every thrust of his needle Seikichi gave a heavy sigh and felt as if he had stabbed his own heart.’
The excruciating beauty, exoticism and mystery of tattoos is laid bare in this original selection of atmospheric short stories; thirteen ink-soaked tales tracing depictions of the tattoo art form from late-Victorian sensationalism and taboo to twentieth-century encounters with the sublime and the sinister.
With classics of the genre such as Tanizaki’s ‘The Tattooer’ and Roald Dahl’s ‘Skin’ alongside rare pieces reprinted for the first time since their first publication, this exploration of the tattoo in classic fiction is guaranteed to leave an indelible impression.