The Conchologist's First Book (sometimes subtitled with Or, A System of Testaceous Malacology) is an illustrated textbook on conchology issued in 1839, 1840, and 1845.

Poe translated the French text by Georges Cuvier into English, worked on the accounts of the animals, constructed a new classification scheme, and organized the book.

[8] In 1844, Poe tried to publish more of his work with Harper's (which had also printed his novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket) but was informed by a friend, "They have complaints against you... grounded on certain movements of yours.

Wyatt's book, in turn, had taken much material from The Conchologist's Textbook by the British naturalist Thomas Brown without attribution.

The American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould wrote that Poe made significant contributions to the text by his editing and, more importantly, by translating Cuvier's passages into English.

[13][14] John H. Lienhard contends that in simplifying a rather esoteric subject, Poe made significant contributions in popularizing science in the United States.