Lot 139

Ansel Adams TLS in Card Featuring Lovely & Important Image of New Mexico Aspens, Re: Yosemite National Park: "waterfalls a little down, but mosquitoes are very much UP!"

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Ansel Adams TLS in Card Featuring Lovely & Important Image of New Mexico Aspens, Re: Yosemite National Park: "waterfalls a little down, but mosquitoes are very much UP!"

Estimate: $350 - $500

Current Bid: $140

(1 Bid)

by University Archives
July 28, 2026 10:00 AM EDT
Live Auction
88 Danbury Road
Suite 2A
Wilton, CT, US 06897

Ansel Adams
Yosemite National Park, CA, June 8, 1978
Ansel Adams TLS in Card Featuring Lovely & Important Image of New Mexico Aspens, Re: Yosemite National Park: "waterfalls a little down, but mosquitoes are very much UP!"
TLS

A 1p typed letter signed by American landscape photographer Ansel Adams (1902-1984), as "Ansel" at center, above his additional typed signature as "ANSEL ADAMS." June 8, 1978. The Ahwahnee Hotel, Yosemite National Park, in central California. Typed on the inside of an elegant black and white card reproducing Ansel Adams's "Aspens, Northern New Mexico," from Portfolio VII (1955). With several handwritten pen edits correcting spelling and punctuation, and a few instances of typewriting erasures or errors. The card hinge is well-creased. A small faded red stain found near the top edge recto is mentioned just for accuracy. Isolated negligible surface scuffs mostly verso. Else near fine. Measures 7" x 5" in card form; 7" x 10" completely unfolded.

Adams addressed this chatty and cheerful letter to his cardiologist, Dr. Francis L. Chamberlain (1905-1995), former president of the American Heart Association (1958-59), and Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California School of Medicine at San Francisco. Adams had suffered from recurring heart ailments during his later years, finally culminating in cardiac surgery. In February 1979 - less than one year later - the 76-year-old Adams would undergo open heart surgery at the Presbyterian Hospital of the Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. During the 5-hour-long procedure, Adams's aortic valve was replaced with an implant and two vein bypasses were completed. Adams later recounted that he had started dieting seven months prior to the heart surgery, in other words, around this time.

In the letter to Dr. Chamberlain, Adams rhapsodizes about a cardiac center at St. Agnew's complete "with enough computers for a space-ship" and gives a brief overview of his symptoms, which included vertigo in the mountainous altitude of Yosemite National Park. Of course, Adams had a very special relationship with the national park which he had first visited and photographed as a teenaged boy some 60 years before. "It is beautiful here," Adams adds in a postscript, "waterfalls a little down, but mosquitoes are very much UP! A banner year for the little bastards!!!"

Adams's interest in photographing natural scenery coincided with his discovery of Yosemite National Park, and with joining the environmentalist Sierra Club in the 1920s. Although Adams did commercial photography to pay the bills, it was always transcendent views of the natural landscape that captured his imagination and inspired his technical photographic innovations. Sadly, his heart finally caught up with Adams a few years later, when he died of cardiovascular disease at age 82 in April 1984.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: unfolded: 7" x 10"
  • Medium: TLS

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $99 $10
$100 $299 $20
$300 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $2,999 $200
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 + $5,000