My Camera in Yosemite Valley [with] Ahwahnee Menu; 24 photographs and an essay on mountain photography

Yosemite National Park [and] Boston: Virginia Adams [and] Houghton Mifflin Company, 1949. First Edition. Comb binding. Very good. Adams, Ansel. Folio size, 70 pp., inscribed by Ansel Adams. Ansel Easton Adams (1902-1984) was noted as a perfect balance of photographer and environmentalist. Most of us have seen Ansel Adams' photographs and have been awed by their beauty; he helped to elevate photography to an art comparable with painting and music, and equally capable of expressing emotion and beauty. He told his students, "It is easy to take a photograph, but it is harder to make a masterpiece in photography than in any other art medium" (n.b., info from Wiki).

This series of photographs focus mainly on the mountains of Yosemite: Cathedral Rocks, El Capitan, Half Dome, Cathedral Spires, and more. As Adams wrote in his Foreword: "The great rocks of Yosemite, expressing qualities of timeless, yet intimate grandeur, are the most compelling formations of their kind. We should not casually pass them by for they are the very heart of the earth speaking to us...".

Inscribed by Adams on the flyleaf "For John G. Loncaric / with regards, as always / Ansel Adams" (note that the inscription itself ("To [name]" appears to us to be in a different hand; the written "with regards..." and the signature are Adams'); John and Nancy Loncaric are listed on the accompanying menu from a dinner held at The Ahwanee for a "First Reunion, Retired Employees". John Loncaric must have, therefore, been employed in the Valley; although we could find little trace of him in our online search, we did find his wife hosting a variety of social events at the Ahwanee, indicating they lived in the Valley for some period of time.

___DESCRIPTION: Book is comb-bound with a pictorial front cover (the back cover plain white), the inscription, as set forth above, on the flyleaf, followed by the Foreword (written by Adams) and then by the twenty-four black-and-white reproductions of Adams' photographs, accompanying each photograph is a short, two-party essay by Adams, the first part being his thoughts on the subject, the second being the technical notes for that particular photograph, the essays being on the recto of each leaf and the photographs on the verso printed on glossy paper, following the photographs and essays are fourteen pages dealing mostly with photographic techniques ("The Esthetic Factors", "Optical Problems", etc.), along with his "Recommendations" and closing with a Bibliography; folio size (14 1/2" by 12"), 70 pp. The menu from the Retirement dinner features a wrap-around Adams' photograph on the front and back with a quote on the back from "The Trees of the Yosemite", inside on the left is a list of attendees, including John and Nancy Loncaric, on the right the evening's menu; folio size (13" by 9").

___CONDITION: A very good copy overall, front and back covers with some light soil and some overall wear, the plastic comb binding with a few small cracks but still solidly holding the pages, the interior pages clean and bright, and other than the inscription and Adams' signature on the flyleaf entirely free of prior owner markings; the front cover detached from the comb binding about three inches at the top and about an inch at the bottom, and the interior pages with some light creasing at the fore-edge corners; even with its faults, still a very good copy. The Ahwanee menu a bit better than very good, clean with light overall edgewear.

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