FALMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS.- Art dealer and American art scholar Harold Samuels, died on Sunday in Falmouth, Massachusetts. He was 85. He was born in Brooklyn on July 9, 1917. With his wife, Peggy, Mr. Samuels wrote or edited 10 books on art and history, including a biography of the painter Frederic Remington in 1979 and an encyclopedia of Western artists in 1976. They also wrote two books about the Spanish-American War and edited a volume of Remington’s writings. Though Mr. Samuels and his wife had no formal training as art historians, they were determined and devoted researchers, and their books continue to be cited as comprehensive texts. Mr. Samuels, who had a law degree from Harvard, worked in business through his 50’s, until he and his wife decided to sell their company, American Leisure Products (which produced decorative chess sets and puzzles), to devote themselves to their interest in art. They frequented auctions and estate sales and began dealing in American art, particularly by Remington and other Western artists.