Charles Darwin averred that there was not one country in which the inhabitants did not tattoo themselves. From the ancient Briton to the plains Indians, through Africa to China and Japan, people took to tattooing.
The tattoo is unique, defined as an indelible mark fixed upon the body by inserting pigment under the skin. But the reasons for getting one done are myriad. Darwin was perhaps thinking of tribal customs of permanent body decoration that he had seen, but there are many motives other than custom for the practice.
It is these motives to which Maarten Hesselt van Dinter, cultural anthropologist and one of the leading Dutch experts on tattoos, turns his attention in this large and magnificently illustrated volume.