THE CONCHOLOGIST'S FIRST BOOK:; A system of Testaceous Malacology, arranged expressly for the use of schools, in which the animals, according to Cuvier, are given with the shells, a great number of new species added, and the whole brought up, as accurately as possible, to the present condition of the science. By ... with illustrations of two hundred and fifteen shells, presenting a correct type of each genus.
Philadelphia: Published for the author by Haswell, Barrington, and Haswell, 1840. Second Edition, corrected and enlarged from the first edition issued six months earlier, with a new preface by Poe. 8vo, pp. 166 + 12 lithographic plates. Bound in original green printed leather-backed boards (worn at the extremities of the spine, covers rubbed and some worn, occasional light foxing, but a very good copy of this fragile book. BAL 16132; Heartman & Canny p. 44; Tucker, "Natural History in America, 1609-1860", 1754 (calling the book a piracy); Yale, Gimbel Collection, 38. Item #48801
Poe was accused of pirating this little book from Thomas Wyatt's "A Manual of Conchology" when he was putting this out in response to Wyatt's wishes and at his suggestion. Strangely it is the only one of Poe's American imprints to be reprinted in his lifetime. There was a third edition issued in 1845 without his name on the title-page.
Price: $1,250.00