FREMONT, J. C. (1813-90). Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842, and to Oregon and North California, Washington, 1845, 8vo, 16 plates only, 5 maps including folding map by Fremont and Preuss, cloth. FIRST EDITION.

FREMONT, John Charles (1813-90).  Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842, and to Oregon and North California in the Years 1843-'44 ... Printed by Order of the House of Representatives. Washington: Blair and Rives, Printers, 1845. Large 8vo (226 x 140mm). 16 lithographed plates only (?of 22) and 4 maps, of which 2 folding, including the very large folding "Map of an Exploring Expedition to the Rocky mountains in the Year 1842 and to Oregon & North California in the Years 1843-44 by Brevet Capt. J. C. Frémont of the Corps of Topographical Engineers Under the orders of Col. J. J. Abert, Chief of the Topographical Bureau. Lith. by E. Weber & Co. Baltimore Md." by J. C. Frémont with the assistance of Charles Preuss (although Preuss's name does not appear on the map), with rivers hand-coloured in blue, astronomical tables at the end (the large folding map by Frémont and Preuss complete but detached and torn neatly in half along the centrefold without significant loss [although the illustration erroneously gives the impression that the lower corners are lacking], a few tears at other folds without significant loss, occasional spotting and staining to the text and plates, with some darker ink spots). Original brown publisher's cloth decorated in blind, spine lettered in gilt (part of the spine torn away with loss of letters, lower cover detached, rubbed with some light staining, lacking the pocket for the folding map at the end although with its green silk ribbon still intact). Provenance: From the Collection of the late Seymour Stein (1942-2023); "Ministry of Defence Library Services. Withdrawn" (stamp on title with library shelf numbers and library label at the foot of the spine); "Geographical and Statistical Depot. War Department" (blindstamp on title above imprint); "Libreria Estrangera Cientifica y Literaria de Carlos Bailly-Bailliere, Madrid" (label on front pastedown). FIRST EDITION. Howes F370; Graff 1436; Rumsey Map Collection: "The large map of the west is one of the most interesting and beautiful government maps of the 1840s. It filled in many of the gaps in cartographic knowledge of the west. Charles Preuss was the cartographer"; Sabin 25845; Schwartz & Ehrenberg The Mapping of America 275 (folding map); Streeter Sale 3131; Wheat Mapping the Transmississippi West 1540-1861 497: "[Frémont's work] can only be described as one of the monumental works of [American] Western Exploration and became the vade mecum of Manifest Destiny [i.e. the 19th-century doctrine that the expansion of the United States through the American continents was both justified and inevitable]. Its words, maps, and pictures paved the way for future waves of overlands culminating in the flood tide of the Gold Rush ... The great folding map is an altogether memorable document in the cartographic history of the West."