Postcard mailed in 1902. Where is this? (The card has been trimmed.)
via tattooedladyhistory.typepad.com
Thanks to my friend Tom Flamson for knowing that this postcard is of Le Rocher/The Rock in Monaco. That does explain the Monaco postmark on the back. Now I just have to figure out what its significance is to the lives of Frank and Annie Howard (someone mailed it to Frank Howard in 1902, but he was in Europe at that point, so wouldn't have gotten it right away.)
Postcard mailed in 1902. Where is this? (The card has been trimmed.)
My former boss now lives in Bordeaux, France, and he spotted The Tattooed Lady at his local Mollat bookstore in the window! You can see it in the bottom of the picture lying down in front.
His description of Mollat, for those of you not familiar with it: "It is huge enough to make the NYC Barnes and Noble look like a mom and pop operation. It's a high quality bookstore clerked by folks who know how to read and it's something of an institution here in Bordeaux."
If you've tried to buy a copy of The Tattooed Lady in the US in the past few months, you may have been unable to. I am out of copies, and it is essentially out of print. There are used copies floating around online (some for over $150- I wish I could get some of that!!) but no new copies to be found, unless you stumble across one at your local bookstore. If you live in Europe, I am told (and this photo is evidence) that there are still copies available. Indeed, Mollat has The Tattooed Lady for sale on its website for only 25,50 Euros (about $34.50 US.) I'm not sure you'd want to pay the shipping on that, though.
My publisher is not interested in doing a second edition, which is really too bad. The original print run was only 5000 copies, frankly, I think that for a 2009 book to go out of print already means that it's got legs.
I will be working on shopping it to a new publisher in the coming months, and am actually excited about doing a fair amount of rewriting and adding information, but I also have another project in the works, so this make take a while. The Tattooed Lady is still available via e-book on Kindle and Nook, so you can still read it on your phone or tablet, but (as much as I like e-books) it's not the same. I can also recommend finding it at your local library, but please return it so others can enjoy (can you tell I'm a librarian?)
I will certainly keep you updated on the publishing situation as I go along.
The second issue of Things and Ink will soon be out, along with my article about Lady Randolph Churchill's mythical ourobouros tattoo!
For background research on Jennie Churchill's life, one of the sources I consulted was Anne Sebba's book American Jennie: The Remarkable Life of Lady Randolph Churchill. It was a great read, well researched, and very interesting.
I highly recommend it if you want to know more about this interesting lady.
Something to read while you're waiting for the next magazine issue to come out.
Enjoy!
My husband was at the Milwaukee Public Museum on Monday (county residents still get in free on Mondays) and he took some photos of a very cool tattooed mummy arm for me.
The arm is from a Chimu mummy, the grave site in Huaca, Peru, dated to 1100 to 1400 AD. The MPM was there in 1968. Interestingly (to me) is that the Chimu women were tattooed as extensively as the men.
Tattoo scholar/anthropologist Lars Krutak talks about the Chimu and their tattooing on his web article MANY STITCHES FOR LIFE: THE ANTIQUITY OF THREAD AND NEEDLE TATTOOING.
The museum's signage mentions the tattoos being made by long animal bones, but Lars indicates that they were stitched tattoos, and that the women may have been the primary tattoo artists. He also mentions that up to 30% of the Chimu population may have been tattooed.
This same display also features Chimu textiles and metal work.
I will have to get to the MPM one of these days soon to see the arm in person.
Also, really cool plugs (not Chimu, but also South American):
The new Things and Ink Magazine is now available worldwide! You can buy the first issue, or sign up for a subscription. I can't wait to see my copy!!
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