PBA Galleries

[8] pp. (plus duplicate title page folio) and 15 original gelatin silver prints; each signed by Adams on the mount, and with Portfolio label, numbered in red ink, affixed to the reverse of each mount. Prints of various dimensions, approximately 18.4x19.7 cm. (7¼x7¾") to 25.4x32.4 cm. (10x12¾"), mounts 35.7x45.7 cm. (14x18") or the reverse. Each print within a folded sheet with printed plate number and texts by Russell and John Varian. Housed in a folding cloth portfolio with cloth ties. Copy number 16 from an edition of 260 portfolios, 250 of which were for sale.

"Every photo in this Portfolio is related in some direct or indirect way to the places, things and moods Russell Varian loved. In some the essences of light and space dominate; in others the substance of rock and wood and the luminous insistence of growing things." (Ansel Adams, from the foreword to Portfolio Four). Russell Varian (1898-1959) was a Stanford educated engineer and inventor. Together with his brother Sigurd he developed the Klystron Tube that would become the basis of microwave radar and help the Allies win World War II. Along with his wife Dorothy, Varian was a passionate conservationist whose dream was the preservation of what is now California's Castle Rock State Park. In July 1959 Varian died of a heart attack while scouting prospective locations for new national parks in Alaska.