A rare-book dealer traces the books that Austen admired. Many were by women writers who were the literary stars of their day.

An American rare-book dealer, Rebecca Romney, has managed it, by searching where Austen’s secrets lie hidden in plain sight: ...

A collection of your favorite author's favorite authors on exhibition at the Park Avenue Armory NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK / ACCESS Newswire / March 19, 2025 /Romney's book is as sharp an examination of ...

Romney vividly communicates her sometimes surprised enjoyment of the works that shaped Austen, finding them in some ways ...

There are few writers who have as devoted a following as celebrated novelist Jane Austen. But is she really the “first” great English female author?

Jane Austen’s Bookshelf’ presents women whose writing Austen admired — and how modern author Rebecca Romney found them.

By chance, Romney, a rare-books collector, comes upon a 1778 novel by a woman who turns out to have been one of Jane Austen’s favorite authors. Suddenly it occurs to Romney that perhaps her beloved ...

A chance encounter with Frances Burney's 1778 novel, Evelina, sent rare book dealer Rebecca Romney on a yearslong quest to find the women writers who influenced Jane Austen's work. One of Romney's ...

As a bookseller, Rebecca Romney usually makes a profit from satisfying other people’s curiosity. In “Jane Austen’s Bookshelf,” however, she takes us along on a self-defined quest that grew ...

“Jane Austen’s Bookshelf” contends that virtually every part of that sentence is wrong. Rebecca Romney, the author and occasional “Pawn Stars” guest who wrote “Bookshelf,” is a fan ...