MAWE, John.

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The Voyager's Companion, or Shell Collector's Pilot; with Instructions and Directions where to find the finest Shells; Fourth edition, scarce in the original boards and significantly expanded from the third, with a longer chapter on recommendations for conchologists collecting in faraway parts of the world. The frontispiece, "arguably one of the most beautiful depictions of natural history objects in Georgian England" (Stilwell, p. 5), was likely hand-coloured by Sarah Mawe, who co-ran the couple's specimens businesses and was appointed mineralogist to Queen Victoria in 1837.Born in Derbyshire, John Mawe (1766-1829) spent his younger years at sea and then turned to mineralogy and natural history, collecting minerals for the king of Spain and travelling in Brazil. Back in London, he and Sarah Mawe, his wife, opened a new shop on the Strand, strategically near to Sotheby's auction rooms, selling specimens to the growing market of armchair collectors. His conchology guide began life in 1804 as a scarce 11-page work, A Short Treatise Addressed to Gentlemen Visiting the South Seas and All Foreign Countries. A second edition, of which no copies are now known, was followed in 1821 by a 56-page third edition, the first to use the title The Voyager's Companion.This 1824 edition opens with a chapter on cleaning and packing shells, before presenting a 40-page discussion of the localities where they can be found. Mawe adds information on Australia, including New Holland, Van Dieman's Lan

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