# Is "Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and to Oregon and North California" by John C. Frémont a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and to Oregon and North California by John C. Frémont (Gales and Seaton, printers, by order of the Senate, 1845) is identified by: Washington, 1845, issued in two congressional forms that must be told apart: the Senate Executive Document No. The Senate document (No.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Washington, 1845, issued in two congressional forms that must be told apart: the Senate Executive Document No
- 174 (28th Congress, 2nd session), printed by Gales and Seaton, and the House Document No
- 166, printed by Blair and Rives
- The Senate issue is the fuller and prior form, including the astronomical and meteorological observations and tables that are omitted from the House issue and from later commercial reprints
- It collates at 693 pages with 26 plates and four maps, two of them folding, including the large map of Oregon and Upper California
- A copy's title-page imprint and the presence or absence of the tabular observations at the rear identify which congressional issue it is
- Publisher imprint reads Gales and Seaton, printers, by order of the Senate

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John C. Frémont |
| Publisher | Gales and Seaton, printers, by order of the Senate |
| Year | 1845 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Washington, 1845, issued in two congressional forms that must be told apart: the Senate Executive Document No |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Washington, 1845, issued in two congressional forms that must be told apart: the Senate Executive Document No. 174 (28th Congress, 2nd session), printed by Gales and Seaton, and the House Document No. 166, printed by Blair and Rives. The Senate issue is the fuller and prior form, including the astronomical and meteorological observations and tables that are omitted from the House issue and from later commercial reprints. It collates at 693 pages with 26 plates and four maps, two of them folding, including the large map of Oregon and Upper California. A copy's title-page imprint and the presence or absence of the tabular observations at the rear identify which congressional issue it is.

## Is this the true first?
The Senate document (No. 174) precedes and is more complete than the House document (No. 166); both appeared in 1845, but the Senate issue is the form treated as the true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
D. Appleton & Co. issued a commercial trade reprint of the report as early as 1846 under the altered title "Narrative of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains...," dropping the Senate document's astronomical and meteorological tables and the congressional-document format; this and similar commercial reprints from other publishers in the years that followed should not be mistaken for either 1845 congressional issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and to Oregon and North California* by John C. Frémont a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/report-of-the-exploring-expedition-to-the-rocky-mountains-an
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.