Parmelian Prints of the High Sierras by ADAMS, Ansel Easton (1902-1984)

San Francisco: [letterpress printed by the Grabhorn Press] Jean Chambers Moore publisher, August 1927. Quarto. (13 x 10 1/4 inches). [6]pp. of quarto letterpress (p.[1] title with an armorial vignette printed in blue and gilt, p.[2] printing details, including limitation, p.[3] dedication to Albert M. Bender, p.[4 blank], p.[5] 'Plate Titles', p.[6 blank]); 18 'parmelian' or gelatin silver-print photographs, printed by Ansel Adams on 'parchment' paper (the images measuring 5¾ x 7¾ inches, the sheets measuring 10 x 12 inches). Each photograph with a letterpress title printed in the margin beneath, and each photograph tipped into a folded folio sheet (13 x 10 1/4 inches when folded), with a more detailed letterpress caption.First 6pp. stitched, otherwise unbound as issued, now all within a later black cloth portfolio in the style of the original, blocked in gilt with the title on the upper cover, golden shot-silk liners and flaps, with the original black cloth upper cover also laid in. Modern half black morocco box. An inscribed copy of this classic of western photography probably limited to no more than about 75 copies: a landmark work in twentieth-century photography and in the career of Ansel Adams, containing beautiful images of Yosemite and the Sierras. Parmelian prints of the High Sierras is Adams' first published portfolio, and contains a number of his best known images. The phrase "Parmelian prints" was constructed by the publisher and used in preference to, say, "Photographic prints" in an effort to raise Adams' work above the level of the standard silver gelatin prints. Adams was evidently very happy with the results, writing to his wife "My photographs have now reached a stage when they are worthy of the worlds critical examination. I have suddenly come upon a new style which I believe will place my work equal to anything of its kind." Ansel Adams (1902-1984) was born in San Francisco and first visited Yosemite in 1916. He returned the following year with photographic equipment, and beginning in 1919 he was the custodian of the Sierra Club's headquarters in Yosemite for four years. Adams spent these years hiking and photographing Yosemite and the Sierras. He published his first photographic prints in 1921 and worked to develop a realistic quality in his images, though he still planned on a career as a pianist. Adams' career as a photographer took a quantum leap in 1926 when the San Francisco businessman and philanthropist Albert Bender encountered his work and suggested that they should published in a portfolio. Bender arranged for Jean Chambers Moore to publish the work, and for Edwin and Robert Grabhorn, of whom Bender was also a patron, to produce the necessary letterpress text. Within hours, Bender had sold fifty-six of the portfolios, and eventually a contract was drawn up which specified that 150 portfolios should be produced (this is the figure printed in the limitation information on the verso of the title). In the event, only about one hundred sets of the prints were completed by Adams but some were destroyed in a warehouse fire, and a total of only approximately seventy- five portfolios were offered for sale. Adams printed his images on Kodak Vitava Athena Grade T Parchment, a cream-colored, gelatin silver paper that is translucent when held up to light. This translucency, together with the wide tonal range give the whole series a captivating ethereal quality. Included among the prints are some of Adams' most iconic images, including the majestic "Monolith: the face of Half Dome", and pictures of "El Capitan" and "The Sentinel". The prints (with the detailed titles taken from the folded folio leaves) are: 1) "Sierra Junipers / Upper Merced Basin / Yosemite Valley" 2) "The Abode of Snow / From Glacier Point / Yosemite Valley" 3) "Monolith: / The Face of Half Dome / Yosemite Valley" 4) "From Glacier Point / Yosemite Valley" 5) "On the Heights / Yosemite Valley" 6) "A Grove of Tamarack Pine / Near Timber Line" 7) "Mount Galen Clark / Yosemite Park" 8) "Mount Clarence King / Southern Sierra" 9) "Roaring River Falls / Kings' River Canyon" 10) "Marion Lake / Southern Sierra" 11) "El Capitan / Yosemite Valley" 12) "Banner Peak / Thousand Island Lake / Central Sierra" 13) "Mount Brewer / Southern Sierra" 14) "Kearsarge Pinnacles / Southern Sierra" 15) "The Sentinel / Yosemite Valley" 16) "Lower Paradise Valley / Southern Sierra" 17) "East Vidette / Southern Sierra" 18) "Cloud and Mountain / Marion Lake, Southern Sierra" Grabhorn Bibliography 95.