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

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

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 ...

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

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: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend, by Rebecca Romney It is a truth universally acknowledged (at least in publishing ...

"Jane Austen's Bookshelf" spotlights eight women writers, largely lost to history, who influenced the English novelist.

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 ...

Rebecca Romney, the author and occasional “Pawn Stars” guest who wrote “Bookshelf,” is a fan of Austen. But her point in the book, subtitled “A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the ...