Marcus Adams: Photographer Royal

From 1919 until the end of WW II, the London studio of Marcus Adams was the mecca of royalty and other notables who brought their children to be photographed by this genius with a camera. Thuillier is his daughter-in-law, and her well-researched, absorbing story contains revealing anecdotes from his family. But the book's portraits speak for themselves, revealing why they are valued works of art. Adams, who died in 1959 at age 84, clearly loved children, the subjects of most of the photos collected here, and he immortalized the evanescent face of childhood in all its changing moods. Only when a family included very young children would he make a group portrait (the Kennedys, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth with the princesses). Some of the most striking illustrations focus on the special bond between parentusually the motherand child. It is the visions of children, however, that remain in the reader's memory. (February 4)