Welcome
Following a career of nearly thirty years as dealers in rare and collectible children's books, BATTLEDORE LTD was incorporated in 1988 to branch into new but related directions following personal interests that extend and expand beyond the antiquarian book world. Part of this business includes buying and selling various collectibles, from Dutch Art Nouveau ceramics to ancient pottery from the Han to Tang dynasties. As a small publisher we produce and distribute books within our focus, and also maintain a “by appointment” art gallery offering original illustrations, vintage posters and signed prints by Maurice Sendak (since 1970) besides fine art illustration by other Caldecott Award medalists.
BATTLEDORE is a small privately owned corporation based in Kingston NY, 90 miles north of Manhattan and 60 miles below Albany along the Hudson River. In 1990 we published a monograph on the original printing history of the 1865 first edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which was suppressed by its author and illustrator, never distributed, and has become the most precious rare book of literature printed during the 19th century. Battledore also located and identified the original 1901 printing blocks to illustrations for Beatrix Potter's privately printed first edition of The Tale of Peter Rabbit. And in cooperation with a Japanese gallery, we co-curated and produced a multi-million dollar exhibition sales catalogue of artwork by the highly important contemporary books artist Maurice Sendak with successful venues in both Tokyo and Bangkok.
Currently we are distributing reference books issued for the Osborne and Lillian H Smith Collections of Children’s Books, Toronto Public Library, and the Cotsen Children’s Library, Princeton University, including their monumental catalogues of rare and collectible juveniles published from the fifteenth century onwards. We also acquired the inventory of a British art publisher Catalpa following the premature death of its owner Ian Hodgkins which issued definitive biographies of Richard Doyle, Laurence Housman, Austin Osman Spare, Simeon Solomon, Charles Ricketts, and a study of Edward Lear’s original nonsense limerick manuscripts. And as a companion to our Dutch Decorative Arts 1880-1940 book (the English language version of a catalogue produced by the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam), we include several other noteworthy titles in this same collectibles area. And finally, as we are always looking to develop new collecting trends, whether it is nineteenth century Southeast Asian photography or early printing in Thailand (we provided inventory for the entire first auction of Christies Bangkok, August 1999), since the middle 1990s we have also been researching vintage Chinese propaganda art from 1949 to 1976, a period unlike any other in world history where hundreds of millions of people were indoctrinated by a philosophy that encompassed every area of their daily life. Andy Warhol transformed the image of Chairman Mao into an icon of Modern Art while Mao himself was heralded in his own country as the new Emperor of China. To date we have held four successful Internet auctions with Sothebys.Com and are now developing a serious English language reference book about early authentic Mao collectibles. Here follows a selection of items from our various inventories. We try to keep up-to-date and remove anything that may already be sold, but please wait for our confirmation email to acknowledge that the items in your shopping cart are indeed still available. All prices listed are in U.S. dollars and guaranteed through December 2006. Most domestic orders are sent via USPS Priority Mail unless other arrangements are requested. Foreign orders processed as received. New clients are asked to provide credit references along with pre-payment. And residents of New York State are likewise required to pay 8% sales tax (Ulster County) unless otherwise exempt.
Dennis M. V. David
Justin G. Schiller
Postscript: For those adventurers interested in visiting upstate New York and seeing our current selection of Sendak original art and vintage Mao propaganda, we maintain a small art gallery “by appointment only” in Kingston (located 90 miles north of Manhattan, 60 miles below Albany, and across the Hudson River from Rhinebeck). We would be glad to welcome visitors on either weekdays or weekends as long as prior commitments allow. Except in the case of unique items, everything listed on this website is also for sale at our gallery.
