YOSEMITE AND THE RANGE OF LIGHT

Boston: New York Graphic Society, Little, Brown and Company, 1979. No. 107 of 250 COPIES OF THE DELUXE EDITION, SIGNED BY ANSEL ADAMS on the colophon. Book: 314 x 382 mm. (12 1/4 x 15"); Print: 332 x 488 (13 x 19 1/4"), mounted on archival board measuring 560 x 710 mm. (22 x 28"). 28, [2] pp., [3] leaves.
Publisher's quarter brown morocco over linen boards, upper cover with blind-stamped morocco label, raised bands. Housed in the original linen clamshell box with leather spine label. With 116 BLACK & WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS BY ANSEL ADAMS (110 of which are FULL-PAGE). ACCOMPANIED BY AN ORIGINAL SILVER GELATIN PRINT, PERSONALLY PRINTED AND SIGNED BY ADAMS (this no. 6 of 50, titled "Juniper, Cliffs and River, Upper Merced River Canyon, Yosemite National Park," ca. 1936), mounted on archival board with cutout mat, as issued. ◆In mint condition.

This beautifully printed work presents the breathtaking black & white images of Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Mountains made over the course of 60 years by one of the 20th century's most important photographers. For the production of this work, Ansel Adams sorted through more than 1,000 photographs of the region before selecting the final 116 seen here--many of which had never before been published. The striking photographs, whose subjects range from vast panoramas to small eddies of foam on a lake, are devoid of figures and any evidence of human interaction. They are powerful representations of wilderness and conservation, as well as a celebration of the art of photography. In the words of ANB, Adams' "images became the symbols, the veritable icons, of wild America. When people thought about the national parks or the Sierra Club or nature or the environment itself, they often envisioned them in terms of an Ansel Adams photograph. His black-and-white images were not 'realistic' documents of nature. Instead, they sought an intensification and purification of the psychological experience of natural beauty. He created a sense of the sublime magnificence of nature that infused the viewer with the emotional equivalent of wilderness, often more powerful than the actual thing." In addition to the images reproduced in this book, our deluxe edition is accompanied by an original silver gelatin print, personally printed and signed by Adams. Just 50 copies of each of five different prints were made for this edition, this being no. 6 of the photograph titled "Juniper, Cliffs and River, Upper Merced River Canyon, Yosemite National Park." Although his name is now practically synonymous with nature photography, Ansel Adams (1902-84) originally aspired to become a concert pianist before gradually turning photography into a full-time career. He made his first trip to Yosemite when he was 14, and he began taking pictures of the region with a Kodak No. 1 Box Brownie given to him by his parents. Captivated by the region, he became heavily involved in the Sierra Club, an outspoken advocate for conservation, and continued to produce photography showcasing the natural beauty of the West. Britannica calls him "the most important landscape photographer of the 20th century" and notes that "the popularity of his work has only increased since his death.".