Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume I

Did you know that there was a whole subgenre of tattoos unique and specific to Russian criminals? Well, now you do. The tattoos compiled in this book were photographed and collected by Russian prison attendant Danzig Baldaev and range from the benign to the hateful, from the artful to the distasteful. With a foreword from the photographer and an introduction by Russian writer Alexei Plutser-Sarno, this book of tattoos acts as an informal ethnography of sorts, revealing a secretive world full of dark symbolism and mundane designs made imaginative and extraordinary by virtue of their place in this hidden lexicon. An unusual and compelling gift for your tattoo-obsessed friends.