The Conchologist’s First Book — Edgar A. Poe, 1839

™~ sap ERR RID Rites om g E ¢ 4 j Sesawrecwerm eee 4 wee aS ol - . 4 al a Pi : » = ee ‘ Bi ti Wh ’ Ph » i r _ des SOS a ¢ ‘ 5 “ © C 7?¢ Hi : . Te, ° y se ® »* : > ey " nia eta ¥ * - . Ris ee R ah : ; 7 Fe x as — oe? i ¥ " * = “ 1s A a 7 - a * ® aa a AMAA BA AA LDA ATED AACA = ANS AS AS Y\S AN AVE AN ZANT GE ISAS ACS GSN Os ANCA fo yl ‘ t v4 =F ' ae Whe » mn mii Oh Ss eh : é 4 wi =" vi “es es Pe acs Division of Mollusks Biel) a! Sectional Library a | bh AUTOGRAPHS AT ANDERSON’S See collection of historical autograph letters and documents formed by the late Tristram Coffin of this city was sold at the Anderson Galleries in two sessions on January 7, 431 lots bringing $26,462.75. The sale was well attended, bidding was spirited, and prices on the most attractive items were high. | The highest price, $3,600, was paid by James F. Drake for an A.L.S. of Edgar Allan Poe, two pages, quarto, February 16, 1847, written to G, W. Evelett refuting the charge of plagiarism in connection with “The Conchologist’s First Book.” Re- ferring to this book, Poe says that he “‘wrote it in conjunction with Professor Thomas Wyatt and Professor MacMurtrie of Phila- delphia, my name being put to the work, as best known and most likely to aid its circulation. I wrote the Preface and Intro- duction and translated from Cuvier, the accounts of the animals, etc. All school- books are necessarily made in a similar way. The very title page acknowledges that the animals are given ‘according to Cuvier.? This charge is infamous and I shall prose- cute for it as soon as I settle my account with the ‘Mirror.” Sab Rew, hag I /23 THE CONCHOLOGIST’S FIRST BOOK: OR, A) eS TM OF TESTACEOUS MALACOLOGY, Arranged eypress|y 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. Division of Mollus BY EDGAR A. POE. Sectional Library vcgae 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, AND FOR SALE BY THE PRINCIPAL Wonsurveps IN THE UNITED STATES. 7 ” 839. 1839. ‘ EnTERED according to act of Congress, in the year 1839, by Epear A. Por, in the clerk’s office for the eastern district of Pennsylvania. > - ie £y ? ; me % o re RE ie ed A eOhial lastin-™ Seta Meri lees ; of er re “th f ¢ NY ‘ yy 4) * Printed by . Haswell, Barrington, and Haswell. ¥ i ‘ | i” & - A 3 _- SD ae » > | jos” % x . . HR A te ide ne Losey . ua ‘e 1129. Poe (Edgar Allan). The Conchologist’s Text- Book, with 2 Ciscoe of tecn= nical terms. By Capt. Thomas Brown. With 19 plates on steel. 12mo original printed boards, 180 pp. Glasgow, 1833. Bookplate. $10.00 Very scare. The first issue of the book said to have been plagarized by Poe and pub- lished. Phila., 1839. See “International Magazine”, Oct. 1850. Binding worn but clean copy inside, edges untrimmed. PREFACE. 7 q | | Tue term ‘* Malacology,’” an abbreviation of ‘ Mala- coxoology,”’ from the Greek pzrzxos, 80ff, Cus, an animal, and acyos, a discourse, was first employed by the French naturalist De Blainville to designate an important divi- sion of Natural History,in which the leading feature of the animals discussed was the softness of the flesh, or, to speak with greater accuracy, of the general envelop. This division comprehends not only the mollusca, but also the éeséacea of Aristotle and of Pliny, and, of course, had reference to molluscous animals in general —of which the greater portion have shells. A treatise concerning the shells, exclusively, of this greater portion, is termed, in accordance with general usage, a T'reatise upon Conchology or Conchyliolog