Without dust jacket, notoriously scarce except in execrable condition.

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). 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. 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. 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. The potentials were magnificent and the sources literally inexhaustible. After the war.my project was to prepare photographs and texts relating to the National Parks and Monuments. The event of Pearl Harbor brought this worthy project to an early termination.

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. 'My devotion to photography of the natural scene has drawn me to nearly every section of the United States and to Hawaii and Alaska. Adams, Ansel My Camera in the National Parksīoston, MA: Virginia Adams, Yosemite National Park and Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950.

Ansel adams national parks