About

We are a small, privately owned corporation located between NYC & Albany in Kingston, NY. Incorporating in 1988, Justin G. Schiller & Dennis M V David gradually developed a specialty in the art of Maurice Sendak along with other award-winning illustrators and artists of children’s books. We maintain a “by-appointment” gallery at 600 Broadway.

Following a career of nearly thirty years as dealers in rare and collectible children’s books, Justin & Dennis incorporated Battledore LTD to branch into new related directions extending and expanding into such collectibles as Children’s Book Illustration Art, Dutch Nieue Kunst (Art Nouveau) from 1860–1940, Modern Asian Art, ancient Han and Tang pottery, Political Propaganda of the 20th century – international, historical and Chinese, with focus on and before the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

Along with high quality Art & Illustration, we also focus on Propaganda, with a strong emphasis on vintage relics of Mao and the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

In 1990 we produced an illustrated census on the original printing of the famously rare 1865 first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which was suppressed by its author and illustrator, never publicly distributed, and has become one of the most precious rare books produced during the 19th century.

We maintain a representative collection of Maurice Sendak which in 2013 was exhibited at the Society of Illustrators (128 East 63rd Street, New York, NY) celebrating the 50th Anniversary of “Where the Wild Things Are.”  A companion catalogue as a memorial tribute was published by Abrams Books: Maurice Sendak. A Celebration of the Artist and his Work (ISBN 978-1-4197-1073-5).

We invite you to peruse our inventory, introduce us to your friends and colleagues, and consider developing your personal art collection with our range of unique and unusual vetted inventory of rare material. We welcome you to visit our “by-appointment” art gallery in Kingston NY, offering reference books, original illustration art, vintage posters, signed prints, modern Chinese art, and historical propaganda.