Report of an Exploration of the Country Lying Between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains

By John Charles Fremont

Washington, D.C., 1843, First Edition. 8vo (225 x 135 mm). 207pp. Lithographed frontispiece, 5 engraved plates and large folding map; first leaf, containing the Senate transmittal letter preceding title. Foxing throughout, large fold out map in excellent condition. Bound in modern blue cloth boards with black leather spine, bright gilt titles on cover and spine, marbled endspages.

—Graff 1437; Howes F-371; Sabin 25843; Streeter V:3130; Wheat Mapping the Transmississippi West 464.

Fremont’s report appeared as a separate (issued in printed wrappers) and also in the combined four-volume compilation of Senate documents for the 27th Congress, 3rd Session. It is not certain if the present copy was originally the separate or was removed from the compilation, a differentiation not noted by Wheat and other bibliographers (other than Hasse).

"Fremont’s first expedition to the Rockies was designed by his father-in-law, Sen. Thomas Hart Benton, to publicize the overland route to Oregon for though this was well known to the fur traders, the region west of the Missouri was still terra incognita to the general public. " (Wagner-Camp-Becker 95).