Vintage Tattoos: The Book of Old-School Skin Art

This book is basically a love letter to classic tattoo culture. No gimmicks, no overthinking — just bold lines, bright colors, and the stories behind them. What You Get • Tons of flash-style artwork from the early days of American tattooing. • Photos, sketches, and pieces that actually show how the old-school look evolved. • Short, punchy explanations that give context without feeling like homework. Why It Works • Visually awesome — it’s the kind of book you leave on a table and people instantly pick up. • Perfect for anyone who likes traditional tattoos, whether you’re an artist, a collector, or just someone who loves that timeless sailor-tattoo vibe. • Simple layout, easy to flip through, and fun to come back to. Verdict If you’re into bold lines, anchors, pin-ups, daggers, hearts, and the whole classic Americana vibe, this book delivers exactly what you want. Cool. Clean. Straight to the point — just like old-school ink.

This is a great book. It's that simple. If you're at all interested in classic or vintage tattoos then let this be your first book on the subject, or if you have other tattoo topic books, then you need to add this to that collection. I was interested in a book on old school or vintage tattoos. My main purpose was to learn a little bit more about Sailor Jerry Collins and his influences. I thought maybe there would be some other interesting tidbits of information on the history of what we now consider "vintage tattoos" and maybe some cool pictures - what I got was an amazing surprise. There is so much fantastic and detailed information - none of it boring. The book takes you on an incredible journey through time, style, artists and even equipment. Even if you don't know how to read, the pictures and old flash of these vintage tattoos are worth the price of admission ... ok, the price of the book, but you get the point. Whether you're looking for tattoo ideas, a tattoo history lesson or want to have a unique perspective on vintage tattoos - this is a must add to your bookshelf.

Gave to my great nephew who already has a few tattoos. He’ll be 21. He Loved the book, pics and the history. A great book he’ll continue to enjoy.

I wanted to post some pictures of the book as I couldn’t find any reviews with images of inside. I bought this for a teenage girl who aspires to be a tattoo artist and is currently writing a college paper on American Traditional Tattoos. This book has an amazing amount of information on individual artists and styles that are still relevant if not more so today! Excellent read, great gift. 10/10.

This book is awesome...plenty of "olde tyme" tattoo flash for reference. People talk about "old school" all the time and don't really know what they're talking about...this book is entirely compiled of the original old school style flash and not awkward modern reinterpretations of it. The drawings contained in this book were created by self-taught untrained artists who only had a limited range of subject matter to emulate and execute. Many of the drawings may seem a bit rough and primitive but remember the art of tattoo has only recently been adopted by the fine arts community and this book represents the traditional artwork of tattooists in the early part of the twentieth century...in it's completely unadulterated form without the self consciousness of modern art. This book is a must for the serious collector or general enthusiast of classical European/American tattoo traditions.

I purchased this book for my boyfriend for Christmas. He’s a tattoo lover and currently an apprentice. Perfect gift for him. It has lots of info on tattoo history and artwork from the “OG” tattoo artists like Sailor Jerry. There’s 255 pages so there’s a lot to see. I definitely recommend

Not much to this book, I did end up getting a Bert Grim design from here which I guess made it worth it. Most of the flash featured is pretty bad... I like the cover though.

The item is exactly as described, a very fun flash tattoo reference with a little background. I would have like to see a little more world variety, but an overall win. Really liked the book, if your in to old school tattoos or looking for some ideas for vintage flash I recommend it. If you are looking for a book that describes the history of vintage tattoos this is not the book for you.

Nebst zahlreichen Informationen zur Geschichte des Tätowierens und den Persönlichkeiten, die dabei eine wichtige Rolle spielten, gibt es unzählige alte Flashsheets zu sehen. Von Sailor Jerry über Bert Grimm bis Lyle Tuttle gibt es die wundervollsten traditional Motive zu sehen, die zur neu Auflage einladen. Eine absolute Kaufempfehlung!

Nice

THIS BOOK IS FANTASTIC! It's absolutely one of my favourite books to use for referencing and painting traditional americana vintage flash. For the fairly low price, it really has a good range of artists featured (Les Skuse, Bert Grimm, Percy Waters, Doc Forbes, Dietzel and more) and some great designs, especially if you compare the price to other more specialist books like 'Flash from the Bowery' (70+ pounds). This book also has lots of interesting information on the history and popularity of tattoos in America which would be useful for the casual reader, as well as holding some use for the academic. Overall, if you are just getting into drawing, painting or just reading about tattoos and you want some literature with lots of designs for a small price, this is without doubt the book for you. Even if you are just looking for ideas about designs for which tattoo you want to get, this book basically holds all the classic designs.

Excelente livro. História e muitas imagens para referência e estudo.

Fatto bene, molte illustrazioni ma anche un pò di storia del tatuaggio tradizionale. Ottimo.