Il Tatuaggio dei Domiciliati Coatti in Favignana by Mirabella, Emanuele

103 pp. report on the tattoos found amound the resident convicts at the penal colony of Favignana, off the coast of Sicily, with brief preface by Cesare Lombroso, highlighting various types of tattoos found within the population, including religious tattoos, revenge tattoos, political tattoos, erotic and obscene tattoos, tattoos dedicated to people they love, superstitious tattoos for luck and for protection against the evil eye, animal tattoos, and others; with detailed tables for each category showing the age of the convict, the province they come from, their level of education, a description of the tattoo, the age at which they received their first tattoo, the place where it was done, number of arrests, date of imprisonment, years they have been in prison, and other notes. Illustrated with 11 pages, most printed recto and verso, of photographic plates of prisoners and their tattoos, each captioned with the categories of tattoos they bear. Some scattered toning, minor damp-staining to the first 10 or so pages, a few pages with minor foxing. 8vo. Plain paper wrpps. Naples (Francesco Perrella) 1906. Emanuele Mirabella was in charge of health services at the Favignana penal colony, and had previously served as a physician at the criminal psychiatric hospital in Aversa. In 1915, he also studied the Libyan deportees and prisoners housed in Favignana, comparing their characteristics with those of ordinary Italian citizens and criminals, highlighting their "degenerative features" in a book. This present volume highlights the degenerative nature of tattoos as they were thought of at the time, describing them as a uniquely criminal element. "Una caratteristica singolarissima del criminale è quella di estrinsecare i pensieri, le passioni, le tendenze, i moti dell'animo con il tatuaggio." Very scarce; as of November 2019, WorldCat locates only a single holding of the original work in a North American institution, as well as one copy of a later facsimile edition.