Notes of a Military Reconnoissance from Fort Leavenworth, in Missouri, to San Diego, in California, Including Part of the Arkansas, Del Norte, and Gila Rivers / Report of Lieut. J. W. Abert, of his Examination of New Mexico, in the Years 1846-47 / Report

Washington, D.C.: Wendell and Van Benthuysen, 1848. Book. Good. Original Cloth. First Edition. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. House Exec. Doc. No. 41, 30th Congress, 1st Session. Howes E 145 (1st issue). Original brown cloth, lettered in gilt. Lacks both flyleaves and title page, opens directly onto Secretary of War W. L. Marcy's letter dated 9 Feb. 1848 (p. 3), thus 3-614 pp., collated and complete except as noted with (64) lithographic plates including (26) in Emory's report, (14) botanical illustrations accompanying Engelmann's report, and (24) in Abert's report, plus (3) battle plan maps also in Emory between pp. 108-120. House edition (i.e. first issue), far more scarce than the (second issue) Senate edition (which was only 416 pp.), with possibly the first known rendering of Santa Fe on the plate opposite p. 419. Lacking the (2) folding maps and the large folding map which may not yet have been available upon issue (see Howes E 145 note). Considerable wear, but mostly intact. Cloth is somewhat soiled and spotted, with exposure at corners, chipped at tail of spine with some separation along joints and approx. 1" of minor loss along lower front joint, small vintage paper label mounted on upper spine (though not otherwise marked as an institutional copy). Signed on front pastedown and along top edge of p. 3 by former owner H. W. Clapham, a page in the U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., 1848-49. Front hinge shows some evidence of amateur repair, but the binding is still intact, all leaves and plates present and firmly anchored excepting pp. 71-74 (which, along with 3 adjacent plates, are partially detached but fully intact). Text block edges somewhat dulled by age, interior with light scattered foxing, engraved plates mostly clean also with light foxing. Scarce edition. CONTENTS: 1) Notes of a Military Reconnoissance from Fort Leavenworth, in Missouri, to San Diego, in California, Including Part of the Arkansas, Del Norte, and Gila Rivers / 2) Report of Lieut. J. W. Abert, of his Examination of New Mexico, in the Years 1846-47 / 3) Report of Lieut. Col. P. St. George Cooke of his March from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to San Diego, Upper California / 4) Journal of Captain A. R. Johnston, First Dragoons..