Front
Inside
Back
And here's one from 1976. (12 wide x 9 folded once to produce a 6x9 vertical card.)
Front
Inside
Back
Inside
Back
The card from 1958 is beautifully printed--the front and back are matte with letterpress printing, the inside is coated with a glossy finish and is also letterpress. The image is very sharp (and coincidentally, is available as a notecard from the Ansel Adams online store and I'm wondering if it's as well printed.)
The 1976 card is glossy on the outside and matte on the inside and is standard offset printing. I wish the image were better printed. The title tells me it's a reflection but I can't figure out why he even made the photo, it's that poorly printed. (The image is not available as a notecard from AA's shop.)
Now, here's the kicker: Custom cards from Ansel.
This is a 14 inch wide by roughly 10.5 piece of nice paper folded twice to produce a card 7.5 wide by 5.25 that opens horizontally. I'm thinking that the Thackery's are some sort of joke referring to William Makepeace Thackery, the 19th c. British novelist, best known for Vanity Fair. I found a reference to one of these on a German auction site and they refer to the Thackery's as real people who mailed the card to a photographer named Edward Quigley. But I have two of these with two different images and they are both from the Thackery's and besides, who would buy a Christmas card that had a pricing list on the back. I think these are promotional pieces.
Here's the image from the other example I have:
If you actually read the pricing and ordering information then this will not come as a surprise to you but here's the thing, those images are tipped-in silver prints, printed by Ansel Adams. That's what it says on the back: "actual photographic prints, made by Ansel Adams."
The one on the German auction site has a different image. This one:
So there were at least 3 different images that he offered. And the price? $125 for 100 which would be $1.25 for an Ansel Adams print (postage paid, too), "of brilliant tone and surface, permanent, and worthy of framing." I wonder how many he sold. Or if the Thackery's were his only customers.
Anyone know anything about these?
Next up, an invitation to the opening of a Weston show, a gallery announcement to an early Becher's show and another announcement that I'm going to mount for no other reason but that it has my favorite photograph on it.
The 1976 card is glossy on the outside and matte on the inside and is standard offset printing. I wish the image were better printed. The title tells me it's a reflection but I can't figure out why he even made the photo, it's that poorly printed. (The image is not available as a notecard from AA's shop.)
Now, here's the kicker: Custom cards from Ansel.
Front
Inside
Back
This is a 14 inch wide by roughly 10.5 piece of nice paper folded twice to produce a card 7.5 wide by 5.25 that opens horizontally. I'm thinking that the Thackery's are some sort of joke referring to William Makepeace Thackery, the 19th c. British novelist, best known for Vanity Fair. I found a reference to one of these on a German auction site and they refer to the Thackery's as real people who mailed the card to a photographer named Edward Quigley. But I have two of these with two different images and they are both from the Thackery's and besides, who would buy a Christmas card that had a pricing list on the back. I think these are promotional pieces.
Here's the image from the other example I have:
If you actually read the pricing and ordering information then this will not come as a surprise to you but here's the thing, those images are tipped-in silver prints, printed by Ansel Adams. That's what it says on the back: "actual photographic prints, made by Ansel Adams."
The one on the German auction site has a different image. This one:
So there were at least 3 different images that he offered. And the price? $125 for 100 which would be $1.25 for an Ansel Adams print (postage paid, too), "of brilliant tone and surface, permanent, and worthy of framing." I wonder how many he sold. Or if the Thackery's were his only customers.
Anyone know anything about these?
Next up, an invitation to the opening of a Weston show, a gallery announcement to an early Becher's show and another announcement that I'm going to mount for no other reason but that it has my favorite photograph on it.
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