# Is "Narrative of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition" by George Wilkins Kendall a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Narrative of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition by George Wilkins Kendall (Harper & Brothers, 1844) is identified by: New York: Harper & Brothers, 1844, two octavo volumes: volume one collates xii, [13]-405 pages with a frontispiece, a folding map, and one lithographed plate; volume two collates xii, [13]-406 pages with a frontispiece and two lithographed plates. The New York (Harper) edition of 1844 precedes the first British printing, issued by David Bogue in London in 1845 under a shortened title.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- New York: Harper & Brothers, 1844, two octavo volumes: volume one collates xii, [13]-405 pages with a frontispiece, a folding map, and one lithographed plate; volume two collates xii, [13]-406 pages with a frontispiece and two lithographed plates
- First-edition sets are bound in blind-stamped brown cloth with gilt spine titles; the first-state binding has "1844" gilt-stamped at the foot of the spine, while a second state has "1845" at the spine foot instead, even though the sheets and title pages of both remain dated 1844 -- the spine date is a binding variant, not a separate printing, and the two volumes of a single set are sometimes found in mismatched states
- Kendall's firsthand account of the disastrous 1841 Texan expedition into New Mexican territory, and his own imprisonment in Mexico afterward, was among the best-selling Western narratives of its decade
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Brothers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | George Wilkins Kendall |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
| Year | 1844 |
| True first | British edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | New York: Harper & Brothers, 1844, two octavo volumes: volume one collates xii, [13]-405 pages with a frontispiece, a folding map, and one… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1844, two octavo volumes: volume one collates xii, [13]-405 pages with a frontispiece, a folding map, and one lithographed plate; volume two collates xii, [13]-406 pages with a frontispiece and two lithographed plates. First-edition sets are bound in blind-stamped brown cloth with gilt spine titles; the first-state binding has "1844" gilt-stamped at the foot of the spine, while a second state has "1845" at the spine foot instead, even though the sheets and title pages of both remain dated 1844 -- the spine date is a binding variant, not a separate printing, and the two volumes of a single set are sometimes found in mismatched states. Kendall's firsthand account of the disastrous 1841 Texan expedition into New Mexican territory, and his own imprisonment in Mexico afterward, was among the best-selling Western narratives of its decade.

## Is this the true first?
The New York (Harper) edition of 1844 precedes the first British printing, issued by David Bogue in London in 1845 under a shortened title.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Narrative of the Texan Santa Fe Expedition* by George Wilkins Kendall a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/narrative-of-the-texan-santa-fe-expedition
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.