Pick of the paperbacks; The Portfolios of Ansel Adams, by Ansel Adams. Boston: New York Graphic Society. $14.95.

Between 1948 and 1976 Ansel Adams produced seven handsomely composed and technically flawless portfolios -- each a limited edition of 10 to 15 signed photographic prints. These prized portfolios are now on any collector's list.

This superb paperback edition contains 90 of the magnificent photographic images that encompass not only his monumental landscapes, but his lesser known portraits and architectural studies. To ensure the finest reproduction possible , New York Graphic Society reshot every photograph on double impression offset, while Adams supervised every step of the printing.

In John Szarkowski's excellent introduction he tells of Adams' thinking process in making a picture -- how most of his landscapes stir the memory of what it was like to be alone in the wilderness of an untouched world.