[ Will Till, South African photographer. ] Long Autograph Letter Signed to English royal photographer Marcus Adams, discussing his work, methods and circumstances.

Author: 
Will Till (c.1893-1971), photographer, 'the greatest South African pictorialist' [ Marcus Adams (1875-1959), English royal photographer ]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Will Till, Hon. F.R.P.S., "Bryro", 3 Grays Terrace, Kensington, Johannesburg, South Africa. 2 July 1956.
£120.00
SKU: 17571

4pp., 4to. In good condition, lightly-aged and worn. Long closely-written letter, friendly and informative. Topics include the breaking of his right arm, the weather in Johannesburg ('I do not take my landscapes in winter - but our Transvaal summer is my time to operate with the camera to record the trees - the clouds & all the mood that goes with it'), Adams's support for 'the London Salon panel of prints'. Regarding their ages he writes: 'Your fine record of eighty one wonderful years makes my own sixty two quite youngish and I hope & pray you will be long spared to continue to grace this good earth'. He plans to revisit England with his wife within three years and wishes to meet Adams and his son Gilbert, in order to 'shape up to the future'. He gives news of his eldest son, and expresses interest in a planned book on Adams's life, 'for you have inspired hundreds to do good work'. Till has posted six prints - 'all landscapes' - for entry in the London Salon, and asks Adams for his opinion. 'Some taken on our holiday travels - (my wife paints and sketches) we travel thousands of miles to get good shots. I've about 3000 good landscape shots & will go on making more - that urge to produce pictures goes on and on'. He discusses his own plans 'to publish a book of my landscapes - it is almost ready but I have not yet approached anyone about publishing it - in fact I really dont know just how to go about it - but one day I will get round to doing something'. He gives details of his employment, explaining that it was in one of his firm's steelworks that he broke his arm: 'just tripped over a machine left by one of my Engineers put where it should not have been - and at an advanced (middle) age bones dont knit too quickly'. He writes that he is appending 'a shot of myself [not present] taken by Gordon FRPS - it was taken during the judging of the S H Salon some months ago'. It was the Johannesburg Photographic Society which described Till as the greatest South African pictorialist. For more information about him see his entry in the South African Who's Who. Adams's obituary in The Times, 11 April 1959, titled ''Doyen of Child Photography'), describes him as 'the outstanding child photographer of his day and photographer to the Royal Family for more than 30 years'. From the Marcus Adams papers.