My 1st Edition has a copyright date of 1983.
My 1st Edition has a copyright date of 1983.
Gave my copies away long ago. A helpful rite of passage for me at one time, with a fair amount of interesting background history, but just one step among many more along the road.
Examples The Making of 40 Photographs is indeed an excellent book to have in one's personal library. About 3 years ago, I bought a publishers publicity copy Ansel Adams Examples at an estate sale in Mobile. All of the merchandise came from an estate out of New York. The book is a 1st Edition Copy with a copyright date of 1983. Included with the book was a publicity folder designed like the "Examples" book cover. Inside it included an article from Publishers Weekly of the announcement of the publication dated October 21, 1983. Little, Brown, and Company also included an article on "Examples"; a short bio on "Ansel Adams", and the essays on "Moonrise" and "Mount McKinley and Wonder Lake". Last but not least, it includes high quality prints of "Moonrise"; "Mount McKinley and Wonder Lake" and the portrait of Adams used on the book cover. Needless to say, this is one book I won't be getting rid of any time soon.
Even though I have the first paperback edition from 1989, I bought a copy the new paperback printing because earlier postings indicated the new version was better. I compared the new "fifteenth paperback printing, 2021" with the 32-year-old printing by placing several images side by side. My first impression was that the new printing is brighter, and has slightly more detail in the shadows. The new printing's images seemed more neutral in tone, and slightly less "warm" than the old one.
But the more I looked, the less sure I became of those observations. I realized the paper itself in the old edition has a warmer tone than the new book. I have no way of knowing if that warmer tone isn't just an artifact of the paper aging for 32 years. The whiter paper in the new printing is enough to make the images appear brighter. And I could not see any difference in the sharpness of the printed images in the two books--even when using a strong magnifying glass. So I have no way of determining if the new printing started from fresh scans of the original prints.
Comparing the two copies did reveal some realities of the printing industry. The printing data page of the old book indicates it was a product of Bullfinch Press, which was an imprint and trademark of Little, Brown & Company. The new copy has no mention of Bullfinch Press. Now it says that Little, Brown & Company is now part of Hachette Book Group. It seems there has been some consolidation in the printing industry.
The major lesson learned is to not buy the new printing of "Examples" if the goal is to have an improved copy of the book. Both the old and new printings are of very high quality. And Ansel Adams' original description of how he made these images is still there. And I agree with Drew's observation that studying Ansel Adams' books and images should be important steps in a certain stage in a person's growth as a photographer, but there are other steps beyond that.
Keith
From the new edition: "Fifteenth paperback printing, 2021". The cover is also new, as shown in the link in comment #9 above. A leisurely comparison of new and old editions will have to wait until a busy holiday weekend is past. I agree with Keith's comparison of Moonrise, Hernandez, in the new and old editions, plus the cover of the new version and the first hardback printing of Ansel Adams: Classic Images. There may be slightly more shadow detail in the new printing, and more yet on the new cover, but not enough to make upgrading worth while except for a few experts. There was more variations in the original darkroom prints over the years.
When I had the opportunity to compare 27 of the reproductions in Ansel Adams" Classical Images with originals and reproductions prepared for a big Adams exhibition and curated by his daughter, the book reproductions were usually close to the exhibition prints except for size. Some of the exhibition prints suffered in comparison from being excessively large prints. As a photographer, not an investor, I get more pleasure in well printed books of Adams' photography than I could out of having an original framed Adams photograph on the wall.
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