Adams, Ansel

My Camera in the National Parks

Boston, MA: Virginia Adams, Yosemite National Park and Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950. First Edition. Spiral Bound. Signed by Ansel Adams. "My devotion to photography of the natural scene has drawn me to nearly every section of the United States and to Hawaii and Alaska. The desire to apply my photography to wilderness regions beyond the Sierra Nevada was realized for the first time when I was appointed photomuralist for the Department of the Interior in 1941. The event of Pearl Harbor brought this worthy project to an early termination. After the war...my project was to prepare photographs and texts relating to the National Parks and Monuments. The potentials were magnificent and the sources literally inexhaustible. It required a certain amount of practical experience to realize that a complete coverage of the Parks and scenic Monuments was quite out of the question, and it was found most feasible to consider the areas as a whole, selecting the most significant images, and thereby gaining a larger understanding of these important examples of the natural scene and their implications to our society." (from "A Personal Statement," unpaginated) A large folio (appx. 12&1/2" x 14&1/2") containing (as stated in subtitle) "30 photographs/ with interpretative text and informative material/ on the Parks and Monuments/ and photographic data" (title page) by Ansel Adams (1902-1984), the American Master of photography whose breathtaking images such as these of natural landscapes are iconic monuments themselves. Also with Adams' Personal Statement quoted above, & "A Selected List for General Reading." The images are reproduced with a truly stunning clarity & quality that can only be fully appreciated when this magnificent production is directly perused. White plastic spiral-bound sheets in cover boards, first & only edition of 1950, with Adams' famously beautiful, dynamic hand-written signature in black ink on recto of first blank sheet (equivalent of front endpaper). Without dust jacket, notoriously scarce except in execrable condition. A fantastically desirable & rewarding Adams rarity; the epitome of American landscape photography. In relatively good-to-near-fine unrestored condition: Front cover board with very light rubbing, faint creasing & several small spot-stains at blank areas of surface; mild wear, tiny bumps, creases & spotting to thin edges & corners; one pronounced but small crease at blank lower right corner through blank corners of leaves & back cover; about four (of 27) holes separated from spiral binding (none at or near corners), most others slightly cracked but altogether fully intact & attached; moderate browning to blank verso; blank rear cover board with only mild rubbing & faint creasing to surface; mild wear, tiny bumps & creases at thin edges & corners; one pronounced but very small crease at lower left corner; moderate browning to blank verso. Interior leaves fine with lower-corner creases noted above; tiny bumps at some corners; mild browning & occasional spotting to blank margins of all leaves (least at photograph pages where images themselves are all substantially pristine). Good- Near Fine. [Item #4485]

Price: $600.00