When one hears the name Edgar Allen Poe, immediately his poem about the raven comes to mind – but did you know that his first publication in Philadelphia (and the one that sold the most in his lifetime) was a scientific textbook on seashells? When he came to America he and his family were impoverished, and a friend helped him out by introducing him to a naturalist who needed help writing a book on the study of Conchology – the study of seashells.