Justin G. Schiller

Schiller currently lives in Kingston, New York, with his spouse Dennis M V David (together since February 1981, married 27 July 2011), in a Victorian house built for George Coykendall (he managed the Kingston city trolley system for the Coykendall family), above the historic district of Rondout.

And as an expert in all things Ozian, Justin appeared in an early episode of the television game show To Tell The Truth (1972) where guest celebrities had to identify him amidst two impostors.

Schiller works to promote awareness in early children's books, writing articles on various authors, artists, genres and collectibles, including reports and annual analyses of the antiquarian children's book field, and annual auction summaries and book reviews in trade journals including AB Bookman’s Weekly, where he contributed from 1971 to 1989.

Schiller received a Bachelor of Arts from Ithaca College in 1965 (Honors in English Renaissance Literature). He attended the International Symposium at the Shakespeare Institute at Birmingham University in 1964, and completed a graduate studies/teaching fellowship at Harpur College, SUNY Binghamton, in 1966.

Schiller's first antiquarian books catalogue was issued in 1960; he was elected to the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America in February 1967 (member of the Board of Governors, Class of 1976), where he remains a member. His first specialty catalogue on collectible children's books came out that year. He was also a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association (UK) from 1969 to 1989, and joined the Bibliographical Society of America in 1969, where he's still a member (Council, 2001–2007). He served as chairman on the Antiquarian Booksellers Center board of directors from 1973 to 1976; he has been a member of the Grolier Club since 1982. Schiller was a member of the Association Internationale de Bibliophilie from 1983 to 2012; and the American Antiquarian Society since 1984. He served on the Lenox Society Steering Committee for Rare Books & Manuscripts at the New York Public Library from 1986 to 2000, and the Lewis Carroll Foundation board of directors from 1988 to 1995.

On the November 3, 1956, television debut of the MGM Wizard of Oz film, host Bert Lahr appeared with 10-year old Liza Minnelli and 13 year-old Schiller, introducing the movie by reading from Schiller's copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz first edition (1900).

Justin Galland Schiller (born September 10, 1943) is an American bookseller specializing in rare and collectible children's books; proprietor during his student days under his own name (1960-1969), then Justin G. Schiller, Ltd. (1969–2020). Headquartered in New York City, it was the oldest specialist firm in the United States, focusing on historical and collectible children's books, related original art, and manuscripts. In 1988, he formed a second corporation—Battledore Ltd, with his partner and spouse Dennis M V David, to further specialize in original children's book illustration art and the legacy of Maurice Sendak.

Justin Galland Schiller was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September 10, 1943 to Samuel Gary Schiller and Constance Audrey Galland where he attended Public School 236 and Samuel J Tilden High School. As an eight-year-old boy he started collecting Wizard of Oz books by L. Frank Baum, lending parts of his collection to the author's centennial exhibition at Columbia University’s Butler Library in 1956. At age of 13, Schiller founded the Wizard of Oz Fan Club, afterwards renamed The International Wizard of Oz Club, appointing Frank Joslyn Baum its honorary president.

His legacy extends to two fellowships with the American Antiquarian Society and the Bibliographical Society of America devoted to promoting scholarship in early children’s literature research prior to 1901. The Justin G. Schiller Fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society supports research by both doctoral candidates and postdoctoral scholars from any disciplinary perspective on the production, distribution, literary content, or historical context of American children's books to 1876.