18 typed letters, signed. All on postcards or greeting cards with photographs by Ansel Adams. Various sizes 4¼x6" to 5x7". Also a typed note, signed by Adam's assistant Mary Alinder, a 1983 calligraphic greeting from Virginia & Ansel, unsigned, an invitation to a December, 1979 show of Ansel Adams and the West at The Oakland Museum, as well as approximately 45 unused postcards with images by Adams.
An interesting and revealing group of correspondence between Adams and his physician during the final years of his life. Adams relates his health and activities to his longtime friend and physician, shares blood pressure readings and vitals, questions the doctors instructions, etc., often with an obvious sense of humor to his thoughts. Some selected passages: "Drove to Yosemite today in my new car...The drive was fine and I have no reaction to the altitude. I did have more-than-usual vertigo on lying down and getting up, but none driving or walking." (6/8/78); Please doctor, can I look at girlie magazines after the operation????" (12/21/78); "I signed over 3000 books during the trip! Right hand holding up fine. I stopped when I began signing Alfred Stieglitz, Karl Marx, etc.!!!" (9/23/79); I always through(sic) I had two by-passes, but now I have three!!!...Have a tricycle, which is better than traveling nowhere indoors. I use it on the road round the house. Most level (although I do enjoy a new moment of downhill whizz!). (2/6/80). "I have arranged for a termite man to clear out my head. He said he would if he did not have to give you a cut." (3/20/80); "My heart is going strong, my circulation not so good. It appears both by-passes are plugged...They tell me my heart is running on co-lateral circulation...(5/14/81); "I continue to be busy with books, etc. I shall be 81 next Sunday...I am recovering from a nasty flu-bug which injures my ego and interferes with my work."(2/16/83). In a letter dated 10/11/80, Adams offers his opinion on Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan: "I am seriously worried about Reagan...Reagan is a very dangerous man, simply because he is a nit-wit, makes the most erronious(sic) statements, and has revealed himself as the tool of some "special interests" of dire intent. His opposition to the E.P.A. and the E.R.A. clearly shows stupidity and dire influence. Mention of Gen. Haig as Secretary of Defence simply brings World War III close to reality. These are terrible people and - if they are elected - could bring us close to a Dictatorship in a short time. Don't forget Hitler; he was certainly not bright, but he was used by people who were both bright and evil."