Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842, and to Oregon and North California in the Years 1843-'44.

Washington DC: Gales and Seaton, 1845. First edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo, 693 pages, publisher's black embossed cloth, gilt title on spine; light water stain to top and bottom margins pp.1-16; ,,.small ash burn hole leaf 225/226 (other ash marks), marginal chip at bottom p. 237, lower right corners stained pp. 41 to rear, rear joint spltting a bit at both ends, edgeworn, corners bumped. Provenance: ex libris David Bixler; Lewis C. Groves, California Historical Society (with "Sold" sticker from 1944) ; and, Bernhard Franz, bookseller & stationer, Virginia [City], Nevada Territory (with his sticker at rear endpaper). The large Preuss Map, of 36 panels, has multiple breaks at folds, a several old cellphane tape repairs (not discolored).

[ Cohen, MAPPING THE WEST, pp. 130-133; Howes F370; Streeter 3131; Wagner-Camp IV: 115:1; Graff 1436; Field 565; Sabin 25845. Soliday I:861. Rosenbach 32:146. Wheat 497 & 3266; Cowan pp. 223-4; Zamorano 80, #39; Reese, Best of the West, 86; ]. Important Report by the amazing John C. Fremont, also known as "The Pathfinder". This copy has the 22 plates, and five maps, including the two folding text maps AND the important, famed, large map by Charles Preuss laid in at the rear pocket: " It fills up the vast geographical chasm" between Missouir and the Columbia River. It is "monumental in its breadth - a classic of exploring literature." - Goetzmann, EXPLORATION AND EMPIRE, page 248.