ADAMS, ANSEL. 1902-1984.
3 Typed Letters Signed and 1 Typed Postcard Signed (“Ansel Adams”), 4 pp, 4to and 12mo, San Francisco and Yosemite, August 3 to November 14, 1951, to Chappie Packard, on “Ansel Adams Photography” letterhead, with original transmittal envelopes, postcard smudged and thumbed, envelopes with some spotting and toning, otherwise fine.
An series of correspondence between the photographer and the sales manager of The Camera Shop in Berkeley, Chappie Packard, most interesting for its insight into the business of selling fine photography in the 1950s. In Adams’ earlier letters, he responds to a request to send portfolios for sale. In the November 14th letter, he writes: “We desperately need someone hereabouts to take up the task of encouraging people to purchase original prints and Portfolios. It is not just having a Gallery and conducting the matter on an ordinary business basis; it is rather the need for a dynamic approach to those who have potential interest in creative work. I guess I mean a type of ‘creative agent.’ For example, I am in position to make: fine prints / Portfolios / Screens and Overmantels / Illustration and advertising photographs / Surveys, etc.—Personal Christmas cards. / but my ‘bottleneck’ is entirely within the ‘sales’ (promotion) sphere. If there were someone with taste and discrimination to take hold of this problem for all of the creative photographers out here I am sure it would be a satisfying and profitable venture. / Think about it.”
An series of correspondence between the photographer and the sales manager of The Camera Shop in Berkeley, Chappie Packard, most interesting for its insight into the business of selling fine photography in the 1950s. In Adams’ earlier letters, he responds to a request to send portfolios for sale. In the November 14th letter, he writes: “We desperately need someone hereabouts to take up the task of encouraging people to purchase original prints and Portfolios. It is not just having a Gallery and conducting the matter on an ordinary business basis; it is rather the need for a dynamic approach to those who have potential interest in creative work. I guess I mean a type of ‘creative agent.’ For example, I am in position to make: fine prints / Portfolios / Screens and Overmantels / Illustration and advertising photographs / Surveys, etc.—Personal Christmas cards. / but my ‘bottleneck’ is entirely within the ‘sales’ (promotion) sphere. If there were someone with taste and discrimination to take hold of this problem for all of the creative photographers out here I am sure it would be a satisfying and profitable venture. / Think about it.”
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