Isaac Lea was an American conchologist, geologist, and publisher, who was born on March 4, 1792, in Wilmington, Delaware. After fighting in the War of 1812, he married Frances Ann Carey (1799–1873), daughter of Irish-American publisher Mathew Carey. Mathew Carey. When Carey retired in 1825, he left his publishing business in the hands of his son (Henry Charles) and Isaac Lea. In 1846, when Henry Charles Carey retired, the publishing house became Lea & Blanchard, and, when Lea himself retired and his sons took over the business, it became known as Lea Brothers.
In retirement, Isaac pursued his scientific interests in natural history, collecting objects and publishing scientific papers in the transactions of Philadelphia's scientific societies on the topic of freshwater and land mollusks. The National Museum at Washington owns his immense collection of freshwater mussels, as well as other collections. He died in 1886 in Philadelphia.
In 1829 Edgar Allan Poe wrote a poem dedicated to Lea called "To Isaac Lea".