Text: Anonymous, “[Review of The Conchologist's First Book],” Saturday Courier (Philadelphia, PA), April 20, 1839, p. 2, col. 7

[page 2, column 7:]

The Conchologist's First Book. 152 12 mo. pages, Philad: Haswells & Barrington.

The volume before us is from the pen of Edgar A. Poe, who was formerly editor of The Southern Literary Messenger, and who is the author of several works. The object of the present work is to furnish a system of Testaceous Malacology, set forth in a plain way, for a first book. It has been arranged expressly to introduce one of the most beautiful and interesting sciences into our schools, a science so connected with geology, and fraught with material for pleasurable investigation. This little work is based on the anatomy of the animals from Lamarck and Cuvier, and all the new foreign species, as well as our American, brought up to the present time. It is sold for the small sum of $1[[.]]75, by the principal booksellers in the city.