I collect a lot of books on Batik, just because I need them for referrences and secondly, I just love to immerse myself on these books during my spare time ( which I hardly have these days).  Anyway, one of my favorite batik book is this book by Rudolf G. Smend, just because the book is not too thick but the photographs are just spectacular and the details of the Batik are very well shown.  I own a couple Batik pieces in these books that I can share with all of you in this blog later on.

 In this book it says that, Batik occupies a special position in Indonesia’s history and culture. The extraordinary photographs of cloths and prints in this book demonstrate why batik is the stuff of textile legend. These 71 batik designs, taken from the collection of famed dealer Rudolf G. Smend, date from 1880-1930, a time still considered batik’s golden age. Complementing these extraordinary cloths are 16 vintage photo prints from the Leo Haks collection, which demonstrate how batik was worn at court and in other settings.

Like no other book before, this book takes the reader on a spellbinding tour of Java, revealing batik’s history, motifs, and methods of production.

About the Author

Rudolf G. Smend

is a passionate batik collector and owner of Galerie Smend in Cologne, Germany.

Brigitte Khan Majlis

is Curator of Textiles at the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum of Ethnology in Cologne.

Beautiful coffee book table, a must have for Batik collectors.