Jane Austen's Bookshelf: The women writers who shaped a legend

by Rebecca Romney

From rare book dealer and guest star of the hit show Pawn Stars, a page-turning literary adventure that introduces readers to the women writers who inspired Jane Austen—and investigates why their books have disappeared from our shelves.

Long before she was a rare book dealer, Rebecca Romney was a devoted reader of Jane Austen. She loved that Austen’s books took the lives of women seriously, explored relationships with wit and confidence, and always, allowed for the possibility of a happy ending. She read and reread them, often wishing Austen wrote just one more.

But Austen wasn’t a lone genius. She wrote at a time of great experimentation for women writers—and clues about those women, and the exceptional books they wrote, are sprinkled like breadcrumbs throughout Austen’s work. Every character in Northanger Abbey who isn’t a boor sings the praises of Ann Radcliffe. The play that causes such a stir in Mansfield Park is a real one by the playwright Elizabeth Inchbald. In fact, the phrase “pride and prejudice” came from Frances Burney’s second novel Cecilia. The women that populated Jane Austen’s bookshelf profoundly influenced her work; Austen looked up to them, passionately discussed their books with her friends, and used an appreciation of their books as a litmus test for whether someone had good taste. So where had these women gone? Why hadn’t Romney—despite her training—ever read them? Or, in some cases, even heard of them? And why were they no longer embraced as part of the wider literary canon?

Jane Austen’s Bookshelf investigates the disappearance of Austen’s heroes—women writers who were erased from the Western canon—to reveal who they were, what they meant to Austen, and how they were forgotten. Each chapter profiles a different writer including Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Charlotte Smith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth—and recounts Romney’s experience reading them, finding rare copies of their works, and drawing on connections between their words and Austen’s. Romney collects the once-famed works of these forgotten writers, physically recreating Austen’s bookshelf and making a convincing case for why these books should be placed back on the to-be-read pile of all book lovers today. Jane Austen’s Bookshelf will encourage you to look beyond assigned reading lists, question who decides what belongs there, and build your very own collection of favorite novels.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Books About Books, Biography, Audiobook, Classics, Feminism

455 pages, Paperback

First published February 18, 2025

About the author

Rebecca Romney is a rare book dealer and the cofounder of Type Punch Matrix, a rare book company based in Washington, DC. She is the rare books specialist on the HISTORY Channel’s show Pawn Stars, and the cofounder of the Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize. She is a generalist rare book dealer, handling works in all fields, from first editions of Jane Austen to science fiction paperbacks. Her work as a bookseller or writer has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Forbes, Variety, The Paris Review, and more. In 2019, she was featured in the documentary on the rare book trade, The Booksellers. She is on the Board of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA) and the faculty of the Antiquarian Book Seminar (CABS-Minnesota).

Reviews

[Rosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: An amazing and comprehensive compilation of outstanding authors who might have been a part of Jane Austen’s Bookshelf. Contains these authors’ biographies as well as other bookish and historical tidbits. This isn't a treat just for Jane Austen fans but for every book lover and feminist.

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Jane Austen is often considered the best woman writer of her era, and sometimes, even referred to as the first successful woman writer. Is this claim true? Was she really a pathbreaking novelist who forged the way for others after her? Did no other woman writer have a successful writing career before Austen? Is Austen the only worthy female writer from the Georgian/Regency era?

As you might have guessed, the answer to these questions is a resounding ‘No!’ However, do we have enough knowhow to elaborate on the answers? Do we casual readers know even one woman novelist from Austen’s era? As a huge Austen fan, I admit I did know one woman writer from Austen’s time: Frances Burney, of whom Austen was a huge fan. But I was aware of Burney’s name only because I knew that the title of Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’, my favourite book, came from a phrase used in one of Burney’s novels.

Every Austen fan knows that she loved books and made multiple references to books, plays and novelists in all of her writings, including her letters to her sister Cassandra. (I loved learning that Austen used an appreciation of her favourite writers’ books as a litmus test for whether someone had good taste. I do the same but I use Austen's novels as my litmus test. 😄) Most of the references she makes are for works by women writers. Then why are these ladies’ names unknown today? When did they fade into obscurity? Can we find their books easily today?

Attempting to answer these questions and more is author Rebecca Romney, a book collector who, other than co-running a thriving rare books business, is also a Janeite. A few years ago, she began a personal project titled “Jane Austen’s Bookshelf”, in which her aim was to have a bookshelf containing the physical books that Austen’s bookshelf might have held or that are related to the authors that Austen read. This result of this lofty aim was a period of discovery and astonishment and even frustration.

Austen wasn't a lone genius. The Georgian era had many women writers experimenting with plots and characters and writing structures, and even making a successful career from writing. Yet each of these women came from different familial circumstances, each wrote in a different genre (and not necessarily in the same style as Austen’s), and some even created their own niche across fields, such as by being poets or playwrights who ALSO wrote novels. Some of them wanted to write, some of them stumbled into writing, some of them were compelled to write. But no matter what their background and circumstances, all these successful woman authors have been erased from the literary canon simply because their works weren’t deemed worthy enough by male peers.

Time to return to them the literary status they earned!

The book begins with a chapter on Austen and how/why her writing is the author’s favourite. It then moves on to eight women writers in subsequent chapters, with each chapter profiling a one woman writer. (I am deliberately not naming any of these writers here except for Frances Burney; I want you to discover the rest through this book.) We get an extensive and accurate biography of these women and the circumstances of their writing career. All of these are writers that Austen read (or almost certainly read) but not necessarily loved.

One of the authors included in this book is an oddity, considering how both Austen and Romney weren’t her fans. But I do understand why she was included; like it or not, her books, despite their flawed content, were a humongous success back in the day.

The chapters don’t just stop at a biographical account. We also get details of the Romney's experience reading their works, of finding (or attempting to find) rare copies of their books, drawing a connection between their words and Austen's, and investigating whether their works can be considered similar to and at par with Austen’s. There are additional insights about books and rare books and book collecting, and also about historical literary practices, publishing policies, gender discrimination, discriminative patriarchal laws, and social strictures.

Romney writes like a true book aficionado, flitting across bookish topics without pausing for breath. As a fellow bibliophile, albeit with a much lower level of expertise, I was both awestruck by her knowledge and thrilled to see shared opinions on many topics. There's even one chunky paragraph of her complaining about barcode stickers on modern-day books and the difficulty of removing them without damaging the book. All of us can empathise with that frustration!

However, this passionate approach towards the topic also means that the readability of the book gets a bit affected. She jumps across points and at times, repeats points she already mentioned before. The content gets too detail-intensive sometimes, especially when it comes to book-collecting. The pacing is overall quite slow, but it is further cumbersome because of the lengthy chapters. Also, like a true researcher, she provides an annotated reference for every claim and quote. (After a point, I just skipped these on my Kindle.) Though this book contains relatively light academic content, it still feels tedious after a point because of the generous fact-dumping. (I did love the trivia. It just became too much to keep track of.)

My biggest disappointment is that there are no photos at all in this book. It would have been so great to see author portraits and pictures of some of the rare books Romney so fondly talks about. Also a photo of the final “Jane Austen’s Bookshelf” as it stands today, whether complete or in progress.

Overall though, my complaints are negligible. Honestly, I had picked this book only for my favourite author, Jane Austen. But I completed this work with so much enlightenment. I learnt more not just about Austen and these other women writers, but about books, genres, book collection, publishing, history, politics, law, and sociology.

Definitely recommended. This book will be a treat for academic-minded bibliophiles, especially but not only Austen and classic fiction fans. It’s the perfect book for Women's History Month.

4.25 stars.

My thanks to Simon Element for providing the DRC of “Jane Austen's Bookshelf” via NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was unsettling to realize I had read so many of the men on Austen’s bookshelf, but none of the women. from Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney

Back in 1978 I was in a two-semester honors class on Jane Austen. We read all of Austen’s novels the first semester, and her juvenilia, letters, and influencers the second. Prof. Toby Olshin allowed me to audit the second semester as I had already graduated. It was the most important and formative experiences in my education.

But that was a very long time ago and I am fuzzy about details. I know we read Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho in that class, which Romney notes as “one of the best reading experiences I’ve had,” and lists Samuel Johnson and Samuel Richardson as fans of the novel.

But I believe I read Richardson’s Pamela and Burney’s Evelina in another class on the early novel (which also included the Gothic classics Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto and Lewis’s The Monk.) Earlier in my college career, in a required survey course, I fell in love with the early novel. We read Henry Fielding’s Jonathan Wild and on my own delved into his other novels and books about the early novel.

I was excited to revisit this aspect of Austen’s writing life, and Jane Austen’s Bookshelf did not disappoint.

This is the story of how I collected books by, and books about, eight women writers whose works Jane Austen read, but who no longer have the widespread readership they once enjoyed. from Jane Austen’s Bookshelf by Rebecca Romney

The authors in the book include Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Hannah More, Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth.

Just reading their life stories is a treat. Several of these women wrote because they needed to support themselves. They had bad marriages. They lost children. They moved in the highest social circles and knew prominent literary men. At the time, the novel was not considered high art or appropriate reading for ladies. They were constrained in their careers and writing because of social and ethical pressures, needing to “justify their art” as moral influences.

Ann Radcliffe’s romances (a fantasy, or imagined story) influenced Walter Scott, Mary Shelley, Emily Bronte, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Poe. And, Doyle’s The Hound of Baskerville and Stevenson’s Jekyll and Hyde and even Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. So, why didn’t I read her in my early novel course?

Partly because, like the other women in this book, she fell out of sight when Austen’s star rose, outshining them. No other writer had captured the lives of ordinary women as well as Austen. And because the canon was focused on male writers. I read Richardson, and Fielding, and Johnson in the early novel class. We even read The Pilgrim’s Progress and Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver’s Travels. But Burney was the only woman.

Romney discovered their work was delightful, witty, incisive, enjoyable. And the social and women’s issues they probe continue to be relevant.

This is not an academic (think ‘dull’) read. It is a memoir about Romney’s discovering these writers, her reactions and insights, and, as a bookseller of rare books, the quest to find early editions of their work. I found it a delightful read.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.

[Carolyn Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was everything my bookish heart could have wished for!

Rebecca Romney structured this book brilliantly! It has the perfect amount of literary history, informative insights, interesting commentary, and personal reflections.
She beautifully wove together the life stories of these trailblazing women, their impact on the literary landscape (and the world at large), how they inspired Jane Austen, and how reading their work changed both Austen’s and Romney’s lives.
As a result, I’m now extremely eager to read each book she mentioned and see how they might change my life as well.

It was also fascinating to hear about Rebecca Romney’s work as a rare book dealer. I have spent countless hours researching and looking at antiquarian editions of my favorite classics, as well as learning about the history of book binding. Like Rebecca Romney, and I’m sure many others, I not only consider myself a reader but also a book *collector.* Being on an endless quest to discover rare and special editions is one of my life’s greatest joys!

Thank you Rebecca Romney for giving me an unforgettable tour of Jane Austen’s bookshelf!

[Dee (in the Desert) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars - very interesting! A rare bookseller discovers & dissects the women writers who influenced or were influenced by Austen. Much of this book also discusses “why” so many of these authors like F. Burney & M. Edgeware are not as well know as writers like Fielding, Dafoe and Dickens (the reason is of course that they were women - just trivial and silly romance "scribblers"😡🤬). There is also some very good discussions of how the patriarchy and especially male reviewers contributed to this silencing which impacts even the writers of our current time and also helps explain why the romance genre has been dismissed and viewed as “lesser” forever - how it is rejected as “formulaic” as though mystery is NOT, which is of course just total bullshit. I also appreciated learning more about each of these forgotten writers and also about rare book collecting and its dealers. A fascinating book and instructive and well worth the time to read! This is also my Women’s History month read.

[Diane Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am amazed at how readable and interesting this book was. So full of Austen tidbits, but also mini-biographies and reading lists of the authors that came before her and influenced her in some way. How being wives and mothers dictated what they could write, how having no rights or money of their own made them dependent on social acceptance. It's also full of the ways and means of rare book dealers and collectors and the ways the internet has changed so much at making so many out of print books available to read. Not only is her knowledge extensive, but she's a funny and expressive writer, never afraid to interject her own opinion into the narrative.

Don't let the size of this deter you, at least 100 pages are the bibliography and lists of books. I have added at least 10 books to my own reading list, and when I reread Austen's novels, as I plan to do soon, what I learned here will increase my enjoyment of them. I got a copy of this from my library, but feel like I need a copy of my own now, to put on the shelf with my Austen novels.

[Sherwood Smith]

The title, the reader soon learns, is literal. The author explains why she decided to assemble a shelf of Jane Austen’s books—that is, the ones, written by women, that Austen read and mentioned in her letters.

The Jane Austen fan, or reader of Enlightenment Era books is aware that Austen undoubtedly read a lot more than we see named in the letters, which are a fraction of those she wrote. There is no mention of Aphra Behn, or Mary Davys, or even Eliza Heywood, whose great popularity a generation before Austen was born surely meant that her books were to be found in any library that included novels. But these are the names culled from the letters that Jane Austen’s sister Cassandra left for us.

In this book, Romney sets out to acquaint herself with not only the works of these female authors, but with the writers themselves. Most of these authors I’ve already encountered, but I find it fun to read others’ takes on their work. And I really enjoy a literary exploration that brings in the writer’s own experiences and perspective.

Romney is a rare book dealer, which shapes the structure of this book; though I did skim past descriptions of searches for specific copies, and the deets of auctions, as I have never had the discretionary income to spend on rare books, I comprehend cathexis, and agree that some of the satisfaction of reading a physical book is the feel of the book, the font, the illos—and the commentary inside from long-gone owners of the copy. Plus one’s memories of when one first encountered the book, and the emotions evoked by picking up that copy once again. I own a first edition of Chesterfield’s Letters. The pages were uncut, which meant it sat untouched on someone’s shelf for over two hundred years. It might be worth something, it might not. But I would have cherished it far more had this copy been worn from much reading, perhaps with notes and comments from Enlightenment-era or Victorian-era or even early twentieth century previous owners.

So once I skimmed past the auction parts of Romney’s searches, I really enjoyed her description of the physical books. The feel of them in her hands. Her delight in discovering writing on flyleaves.

Another aspect of this book that I relished was Romney’s awareness of the human being behind the printed pages. She gives the reader a quick and sympathetic history of each woman, even of Hannah More, whose work Romney finally gave up on. (Um, yes, so did I. If only there had been even a glimmer of humor…) This book is filled with insights, and also questions. Even when I disagree with Romney’s conclusions, I can see where she’s coming from—and can imagine sitting around a comfortable tea room, exchanging ideas.

She begins with Ann Radcliffe, whose work I don’t like any more than I like Hannah More’s, though for different reasons. I don’t care for Gothick suspense, and the thread of anti-Catholicism running through Radcliffe’s books doesn’t make it worth reading for the elegiac landscape descriptions, much less the creepy horrors and grues. But I appreciated Romney’s digging into the reviews of Radcliff’s books written in her lifetime, and I followed with interest Romney’s detective work tracing the gradual disappearance of Radcliff from popularity, to her present near-obscurity. Romney goes into the “explained supernatural” (in other words, all the supposed supernatural encounters in the books turn out to have rational explanations—unlike Horry Walpole’s ridiculous and flagrantly male-gazey The Castle of Otranto). Romney points out that in keeping her books firmly within the explained supernatural, Radcliffe was bringing logic to an emotional argument. She then traces through reviews and news reports about Radcliffe the false claims that Radcliffe stopped writing because she had sunk into madness.

In exploring this idea, Romney brings forth the seldom-acknowledged point that Catherine Morland, the teenage heroine of Northanger Abbey, who is so delighted by her discovery of Gothic novels that she brings the “emotional logic” of Gothics to imagining Mrs. Tilney being locked up before her death, learns from her mistakes, which are made in the ignorance of youth. Unlike General Tilney and his own quite Gothic, and ridiculous, assumptions about Catherine. He, an experienced man of middle years, has no excuse!

In wrestling with Hannah More’s determination that human beings are morally obliged to stay in their place (that includes women being subordinate to men), Romney states: “I found myself sitting for ten minutes at a time with a Hannah More biography in my lap, staring at nothing. This, too, is a part of reading. What we feel when we read does not remain on the page. We take it with us. We absorb it. It doesn’t have to change us, exactly (though it can, but it does affect us. It becomes a part of all the little moments that make up our lives.”

It's insights like this one, strewn through the book, that made it such a delicious read, as she goes on to give similar attention to Charlotte Lennox, Elizabeth Inchbald, Maria Edgeworth, and Hester Thrale Piozzi. And then traces how and why these women, once so famous, fell out of favor.

Did I agree with everything Romney brings up? No. She calls the unctuous, freckled Mrs. Clay from Persuasion a fraud, which I think is disingenuous; it’s true that Jane Austen’s narrator despises Mrs. Clay, but her situation, and her behavior at crucial points, isn’t a whole lot different from that of Mrs. Smith, who is better born, and who the narrator favors.

And again, Romney, in mentioning Mansfield Park seems to regard Fanny Price as humorless (wrong), and professes not to understand why Fanny disapproves of Inchbald’s play being mounted by the young people. She doesn’t seem to distinguish that it’s not the play Fanny objects to, it’s the flagrant disrespect for the missing Bertram paterfamilias—a disrespect that all the others are quite aware of when Sir Thomas comes unexpectedly home. But I blather at length about that in my review here on Goodreads.

And from specific instances to general points, Romney maintains that several of these authors’ books are great literature, and deserve rediscovery. This of course goes straight into subjective territory. My own feeling is that there are indeed terrific moments in all of these books, and one can see how they influenced Austen, but (to generalize drastically) they share one fault: unexamined tropes, or downright cliches, both in plot and in language. Whereas Austen was side-eyeing these tropes, and the threadbare figurative language common to all these writers (such as blazing eyes, and frequent faintings, etc etc), and either playing with the expectations or abjuring them altogether. Which is what elevates Austen from really entertaining writer to genius. But again, highly subjective.

My point is, even when Romney and I come to different conclusions, I enjoyed her description of how she got there, and why. I enjoyed this book to such an extent that I plan to buy a print copy once it comes out, and to recommend it to my face-to-face Jane Austen Discussion Group. We should have a blast exploring all its ideas.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jane Austen’s Bookshelf is that rare book whose author combines knowledge of English literature, especially of the 18th century, a particular love of Jane Austen, experience in the world of book collection and book sales at a high level, and who, above all, wants to throw light on the women who influenced Jane Austen as a writer.

Then add to the mix a sense of humor too.

Romney writes in a very readable style of eight women acknowledged by Austen in novels, letters or conversations during her lifetime. Some are slightly remembered today, such as Ann Radcliffe or Frances Burney, but most have been lost except to some 18th century literature texts, if they happen to include women other than Austen.

The subtitle really says it all: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend. You need not be a devoted Austen reader to enjoy and appreciate this book. I haven’t read all of her books yet, I will admit, but I have enjoyed those I have read. And I very much appreciate any effort to open up history and shine light on other women who were also entering the then new world of writing novels. It wasn’t only men making the leap into this genre.

Highly recommended and prepare to add to your reading list!

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an eARC of this book.

[Izzie (on pause) McFussy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ This was more of a, “Good for you read,” than a good read.

What I Liked
📺 The author was Rebecca Romney, from Pawn Stars. Her writing style matched her personality on the show which was likable and impressively knowledgeable.
📚In the past I had a minor brush with an ephemera fair and antiquarian books. It brought back fond memories. *pats copy of Louis Kornitzer’s The Pearl Trader*
🤓 Enjoyed learning about the works and successes of Austen’s predecessors/contemporaries. Tagged several for future reading.

What Did Not Click
Rebecca devoted a chapter to Austen and eight other authors. I liked the bios and the descriptions of what they wrote. What became tedious was reading why, unlike Austen, the authors did not last the test of time.
Top three reasons on the board were:
🛎️ They didn’t have family members who released letters and diaries after their death to perpetuate their popularity.
🛎️ They were women who were at the mercy of male critics.
🛎️ They were women. You can fill in the blanks. It brought home how badly women were treated with virtually no recourse back then. I might not be able to read an HR the same way again.

While the book clocks in at 460 pages, without the Acknowledgment, Notes etc, it’s closer to 320.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I ate this book up, both because it provides a fascinating look into the lives of popular women writers in the 18th century, and for the commentary on their books. For years I have been looking for a critical book about what becomes a classic and what doesn’t: tracing the careers of books through the centuries, seeing where their reputations are boosted or where they are dropped from the canon, loudly or quietly. So I was especially excited about this part, and although the portions on rare book dealing and collecting interested me less, it was still a peek into a world I knew nothing about.

In general the nine authors profiled had fascinating lives, and I’m now interested in giving many of their works a shot as well. I do suspect Romney of being a very generous reader, quite understandably since she came to these works with both low expectations and the desire to be pleased; she only disliked one writer (whom Austen probably did too), and otherwise thinks they were unfairly dropped from the canon. Of course, what is great is ultimately subjective, and if Jane Austen thought these writers were great—the amount of evidence varies, but most of them she clearly did think were great—that’s a strong recommendation.

It’s interesting that Romney points to male writers from the period, such as Henry Fielding, Samuel Richardson, and Laurence Sterne, having fared far better than the women. I wonder how much of that is specific to academia, as this does not seem to be borne out on Goodreads (at least when compared to the more popular of the women, such as Burney and Radcliffe). Also, all 18th century British writers—even Defoe, whose Robinson Crusoe blows the others out of the water in number of ratings—get mediocre averages. Does this support the conventional wisdom that 18th century novels just don’t hold up well today, while Austen was a genius pioneering the modern novel? But how to separate the authors’ relative merits from their cultural standing, when nobody comes to Austen blind? The question of how the canon should be defined is perhaps a riddle with no answer. But a major takeaway from this book is that it is not an automatic process, but one highly dependent on the tastes of influential readers. And once a book is dropped from the canon, however specious the reasons, it’s hard to bring back—pre-internet, almost impossible, because going out of print meant few people could read it even if they wanted to!

At any rate, some notes on the authors discussed:

Jane Austen: During her time, she was considered more “among the best in her genre” than “grand master.” Her reputation grew after her death, however, with some key interventions mostly by influential men: in 1870, when interest was beginning to wane, her nephew published an important memoir of her; he and her brother both skillfully portrayed her as the perfect Victorian angel. Other male professors and critics also championed her books, then leading to many adaptations, all of which has kept her work in the canon and the public eye.

Frances Burney: Was both wildly popular and renowned in her time, and one of the authors Austen most looked up to. She seems to have fallen out of the canon in part because her work was deemed too similar to Austen’s by male taste-makers with limited interest in young women’s lives, and who were happy with just one token woman on the list. Romney makes good points about not pitting female authors against each other in this sort of zero-sum game; she ranks Burney’s Evelina below Pride and Prejudice but above some of Austen’s other work, and notes that while her writing was less subtle than Austen’s, she was more willing to confront unsavory aspects of life.

Romney also theorizes that infantilizing Burney by calling her “Fanny” (when she did not use her nickname professionally) didn’t help, and that growing interest in her as a diarist didn’t either, though the latter confuses me, as it still raises her profile. Personally, I suspect the sheer length of Burney’s books (her shortest are about on par with Austen’s longest) is a factor, along with their epistolary format.

Ann Radcliffe: Popularizer of gothics, also both wildly popular and critically acclaimed in her own day. Her work seems to have suffered for a couple of reasons: first because it had a slew of lower-quality imitators, and while her contemporaries held her clearly above them, later on they got lumped together, while the gothic genre (popular with women) lost prestige. Radcliffe’s personal low profile didn’t help: around the time Austen’s nephew wrote his memoir, Christina Rossetti set out to write a biography of Radcliffe, but couldn’t find material.

Romney also loved The Mysteries of Udolpho and defends it hard, in ways I didn’t entirely buy. The connection of the 18th century heroine’s constant fainting with her lacking the option to say “no” is an interesting one. But a protagonist regularly losing consciousness in dramatic moments remains a pulpy trope, and I do think genre work ages more quickly in general (hence, the pacing being difficult for modern readers). But Romney’s point about Radcliffe having far more influence on later genre writers than she’s given credit for is still an important one.

Charlotte Lennox: This woman had a bold and wild life: arriving alone in England as a teenager and immediately getting aristocratic patronage as a poet was just the beginning. It’s less clear why her work fell out of fashion: perhaps because daring to critique Shakespeare lost her a lot of fans, or maybe because she tried her hand at many things rather than having a clear “brand.” But I’m interested in trying The Female Quixote.

Hannah More: Mostly a moralist and philanthropist. While she wrote a highly moralizing novel that was popular at the time, Jane Austen probably didn’t like it and Romney didn’t either, mostly using this chapter to draw an interesting comparison between the mores of 18th century evangelicals and those of the Mormon community Romney herself grew up in. More did manage to get set up for life by suing a guy for wasting her best years in an engagement and then failing to marry her, which sounds like a good deal to me.

Charlotte Turner Smith: This chapter is mostly focused on the author’s life, which is well-deserved: she had to write her way to independence from a terrible marriage. From the sound of it her novels were geared more at money-making than literary quality (and making them as long as possible meant more money). In a literary sense she was a bigger deal as a poet, but her work was later forgotten.

Elizabeth Inchbald: Primarily a playwright, who wrote the play performed in Mansfield Park. Romney found her humor to hold up very well, her tendency to hammer home the morals less so.

Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi: The only nonfiction writer on the list. Her life is an interesting one, and her friendship with Samuel Johnson plus male contemporaries’ obsession with how terrible it was for her to marry a lower-class, Italian man after her first husband’s death seems to overshadow all other facts about her in many accounts. All this tended to preclude serious consideration of her work.

Maria Edgeworth: This section disappointed me a bit compared to the others, since Edgeworth is a big deal and one of the authors I knew of. She seems to have fallen out of the canon after getting pigeonholed as an “Irish” writer, thus being less “universal” (which is of course ridiculous and really a matter of privilege: Austen, after all, is extremely English).

At any rate, the book was a fascinating read and I do plan to check out several of the writers on this list. I am not sure I will like them as much as Romney did, but as she points out, sometimes it’s important to judge for yourself rather than allowing the critic of 100 years ago to make it for you. And this is especially true with female writers, whose work has often been dismissed—in many of these cases, even after being renowned for decades, or even a century. But I loved reading about these writers and their work, appreciate Romney’s highlighting of them, and would love to read more books like this!

[Manybooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rare-books dealer (and obviously also a die-hard Jane Austen fan) Rebecca Romney, she with her February 2025 monograph Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend offers a riveting, enlighteningly fun and for me also totally wonderful textual exploration of the largely forgotten women whose works influenced Jane Austen and her own oeuvre (but boy, oh boy, will my to read list be hugely extended since I am definitely planning on reading ALL of the authors mentioned in Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend).

And indeed, with each chapter of Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend showcasing a different author (Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Charlotte Smith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth), for me, what Romney provides with and throughout Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend, this has not just been an interesting reading experience in and of itself, no, I am now (and as already briefly alluded to above) planning to peruse all of the authors Rebecca Romney is presenting and then bien sûr also rereading Jane Austen to check and to verify how the eight featured women authors influenced and shaped Austen's writing. For yes, Romney's text for Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend shows that their influence can be seen and can be felt throughout Austen’s works (and which indeed I do know to be the case for the authors with whom I am familiar, as especially for Fanny Burney and Ann Radcliffe, I have always been aware of and intrigued by just how much they seem to have and very much lastingly so influenced Jane Austen's penmanship).

And yes, yes, yes, four solid stars for Rebecca Romney' so enthusiastically conveying through Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend her literary admiration for and her appreciation of these overlooked (and often even downright denigrated) authors, as she, as Romney describes her journey to learn more about Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Charlotte Smith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth absolutely delightfully, engagingly and relatably, but indeed, I am equally and very gladly upping said four to five stars. For Romney sharing in Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend her personal experiences tracking down the works of Burney, Radcliffe, Lennox, Smith, More, Inchbald, Lynch Thrale Piozzi and Edgeworth, read their novels, sought out rare editions and always found numerous connections between their writings and Austen’s oeuvre, this has not only been a marvellous reading experience in and of itself, this has also now kind of inspired me to consider doing something similar, taking some of my favourite German language women authors of the 19th and especially of the 20th century, researching and finding out which prior and/or contemporary women (both German and non German) inspired and influenced their works, their writing styles, their thematics etc.

[Avery · Rating 2 out of 5]

A begrudgingly rated 2.25 stars

Hated it but the criticism was very insightful that made me wiling to giving Austen a second look and I added many books to my TBR

HOWEVER

Way too much about this chick’s rare book dealings and way too much about her personal journey. To quote a gentleman named Bateman: I don’t care if you have had a good life (or something like that). It was jarring at times and really yanked me out of the meat of the book. The NYT’s review mentioned this but I didn’t expect it to be so draining to have her weave in her personal narrative every chapter.
Also found Romney to be aggressively corny and unfunny. Combined these factors seriously hindered my enjoyment of the book. Call me stuffy or a snob idc. Romney needed to dial it down to zero.

Tbh this is an okay pop-history/literary criticism but I am certain there a more fulfilling, and less aggravating, books on the subject of Austen’s influences.

[Alisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has reveled in the discovery the last few years that yes, there were other great women writers before and during the time of Jane Austen, I enjoyed this book tremendously! It devotes a chapter each to eight of Austen's "colleagues" — that is, women writers she definitely read and appreciated. A well-researched work like this really helps open up an era of history that can otherwise feel like it sits two-dimensionally in the pages of only its most famous writers. That is far from the truth, as revealed in this book. There is much to learn and so many real and complicated individuals that are not lost to history, especially thanks to the current ease of access to public domain books on the Internet.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve always thought of Jane Austen as being the first major female author of novels. But in reality there were many popular female authors before Austen that she read, referenced, and was influenced by that we just don’t hear about or read anymore. This book traces the rises, falls, and major works of Austen’s literary mentors and predecessors through the lens of a rare book collector who decides to collect what Jane Austen would have had on her bookshelf.

The premise of this book sounded great, but, honestly, it mostly just didn’t work for me. The biographical parts about these different female authors were fascinating, and I added some of their novels to my to-read list. But the other parts, where the author tries to tie their stories to her own life by the thinnest of threads in a memoir-like style did not work for me.

I also struggled with the sections on her acquiring these rare books for her own collection. I found those sections long, and binding descriptions and paper types and how and where and why she acquired it just didn’t do a lot for me.

The author also derides one of these female authors for being the morality police of her day, but then consistently does the same thing throughout the book, demanding that all readers believe and think the same as she does. She tells readers what to think instead of letting them draw their own conclusions. She has more similarities to this author she can’t stand than she realizes! But credit where credit is due, the author was able to acknowledge this one author’s contributions even if she disagreed with her opinions. Not a lot of people are willing to see the positive in those they disagree with.

In the end, I was dreading picking this up and finishing it just to finish it. If this had just been the biographies about these female authors who influenced Jane Austen, I would have really enjoyed it. But the memoir style, moralism, and descriptions of rare book collecting I could have done without.

[Chrissie Whitley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Being a huge Jane Austen fan, and, at times, having the inclination to read the books she mentions — specifically those in Northanger Abbey — I thought this would be a wonderful dive into the women authors who influenced and shaped Austen's own work. And it does do that. But honestly, and this is mostly on me, I wanted more biography and less book collecting. I understand and often love when the author of a nonfiction book like this includes a good deal of their intertwining personal journey, but somehow this one seemed to drag too often for too long a time. I could barely get settled into each author's life and work without Romney's interruptions. The balance was a little too tilting towards this book's author rather than the titular authors themselves.

That being said — I not only love that this book exists, and sheds a good deal of light on Austen as a reader and inspired author, but also allows present day readers and Janeites to get the opportunity to construct a Jane Austen's Bookshelf TBR.

Also, if you're at all interested in book collecting as a hobby (or future side hustle), this might be the very book to inspire you to begin.

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This affected neither my opinion of the book nor the content of my review.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it a memoir about a rare bookseller? Is it a collection of mini biographies into 18th century women writers? Is it a literary critique? Is it a how to in rare book collecting? Rebecca Romney, rare book dealer, collector and Pawn Stars TV show regular does all the above with Jane Austen’s Bookshelf.

The book opens with what set Ms. Romney on her journey to explore the authors and books Jane Austen enjoyed and ponder just why Jane Austen became a literary superstar and these other prominent women writers of their day are obscure reading in our time. Like many other Jane Austen fans, the author thirsted for more of the same after devouring Austen’s six novels, works, letters, and biographies. She noted Austen wasn’t shy about mentioning her own book favorites in letters and her own novels and this gave Ms. Romney the place to start.

While this was a book in which I appreciated all the subjects the author explored, it was also a book that came with busy internal distractions because the book was doing a lot all at once. I did better when I took the book in small size bites and absorbed it slowly. The author’s writing was very approachable, revealing as much about herself as she does the writers from the past. Written for armchair lay reader to serious scholar, all can appreciate what she says. I enjoyed her analysis the books she read, her comparisons and contrasts of those books to Austen’s works, paging through the Bibliography and Notes as well as exploring the rare book world, but, above all, learning about some literary talents maybe heretofore unknown.

Did Jane Austen’s Bookshelf ultimately answer the author’s original question and show the author finishing her quest to discover these Austen contemporary authors and why they were all but forgotten? Yes, it did. Rebecca Romney also left me with a strong desire to make a similar journey, trying out writings from these talented women authors and added to that, a delight in collecting books that take my fancy- rare or not.

I rec'd a print ARC from Simon and Schuster to read in exchange for an honest review.

My full review will post at The Quill Ink 4.10.25.

[Bkwmlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happy New Year!

My first read of the year is actually a book I started during the last week of 2025. Rebecca Romney’s Jane Austen’s Bookshelf was part of my December “Jane Austen read-a-thon” project to commemorate Austen’s (one of my favorite authors) 250th birthday and my original intention was to finish reading it by the end of the year. But that didn’t end up happening and I’m not sad about it at all because instead of rushing through the book, I was able to really savor it.

Romney’s central goal with this book is to understand and explore the women writers who came before Austen and, in many cases, not only had an outsized influence on Austen’s work, but were also counted among the author’s favorites (as per her own letters) -- yet over the years, these writers had largely been either “erased” or “excluded” from the Western canon. Romney is very honest about the fact that, throughout her life, she regularly purchased and read books written by “authoritative” surveyors of literature who claimed that Austen was the “first great woman writer in English” – aka there were no female writers in English who came before her and even if there were, none of them lived up to her genius so they weren’t worth reading. As a rare book seller (and collector) and huge Austen fan, Romney decided to “right her wrong” so to speak by utilizing her “tools of the trade” to investigate why these women writers – almost all of whom are mentioned in either Austen’s novels or her personal letters -- had disappeared from most literary discourse (outside of dedicated academic scholarship). This quote from the book’s introduction perfectly sums up Romney’s project: “As repayment for what she had given me, I hoped I could offer Austen this in return: a collection that reunites the novels she read, and a book honoring her own favorite authors…I wanted to know who these women were, what they wrote, and why they were no longer part of the canon. I would read their books and I would collect copies that appealed to me for their historical interest. I would fill Jane Austen’s Bookshelf.”

This is a fascinating book that not only serves as a “primer” of sorts on 18th century female novelists, but also a delightful glimpse into the world of rare book collecting (something which I had no knowledge of previously). Romney begins the book with a chapter on Jane Austen (of course), then traces her “literary ancestry” with chapters on Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Hannah More, Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth. Romney doesn’t just provide biographical details about each writer though – she also reads the works by each of these authors and teases out the connection to Austen (some are more obvious due to direct references that Austen herself made, while others are inferred though highly plausible references). Reading this book from the perspective of a fellow Austen fan and someone who had also studied British literature in some capacity, it’s obvious to me that Romney had done her research (and done it well!), as she situates each author in the historical period of their time while also incorporating important historical and literary contexts to support her arguments. For me though, what makes this book stand apart from other Austen-themed literary-analysis type books is the way she incorporates her own personal experience – observations from her profession in the rare book collecting space as well as detailed analysis from her own extensive reading of both Austen’s works and each author’s – to convincingly argue why these forgotten writers should be more widely read. More importantly, she does so in way that’s sincere, witty, relatable, and easily accessible – enough scholarly detail to put it at the same level as academic literary criticism, yet written in a down-to-earth manner where it doesn’t feel like I’m reading literary criticism at all.

Reading this book not only makes me see Austen’s works in a new light, it has also gotten me interested in reading these authors’ works as well. The way Romney describes these works and her experiences reading them, as well as her observations of the connections to Austen’s works, honestly fascinated me to the point that I wanted to experience these “source texts” for myself (one of the things I did after I finished reading was to immediately put these authors’ novels on my TBR). This book is one of the best modern-day analyses of Austen’s works that I’ve read so far and definitely a worthy entry into the canon (if there is one) of Austen scholarship. With that said, the biggest takeaway I got from this book is the importance of reading something because we “want to” rather than because we “should” (i.e.: it’s part of the “classics” canon). I absolutely love this section from Romney’s concluding chapter: “Building this collection led me to question the canon. I did not throw it out, but I’ve learned the confidence to distinguish between the taste of ‘authorities’ and my own. Look into the past and read whatever resonates with you, not what we’re told are the ‘best’ authors. You don’t have to read any of the books I read in my investigation. [Italo] Calvino argues that, outside of school, ‘we don’t read classics out of duty or respect, only read out of love’.” Wonderfully stated words of wisdom that I know will stay with me for a long time to come

P.S.: Romney’s book inspired me to take a quick look back at the course I took a few months ago on 18th Century British Literature for my English Literature degree – sure enough, there was only one female writer covered in that course (yes, you guessed it – Jane Austen). This also led me down the rabbit hole of checking out syllabi for courses on 18th century British Literature from various schools and indeed, there are few (if any) female writers covered in those (Austen is actually not in many of those syllabi either, as some consider her a 19th century writer due to most of her novels being published after 1800). From what I could see based on my own studies as well as glancing through these syllabi is that the “canon” when it comes to 18th century British Literature consists mostly of Jonathan Swift, Samuel Johnson, Henry Fielding, Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Tobias Smollett, Laurence Sterne, Samuel Richardson, and a rotation of other male poets/playwrights/writers – some more obscure and less prolific than the women writers discussed in Romney’s book. All this tells me that Romney was definitely on to something with her project!

[Katie Lumsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating mix of literary history, biography and memoir. Such a great read.

[Abigail Bok · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book might easily disappoint readers who come to it with mistaken expectations. As I read it, I kept having to adjust my sense of what it was about and what it was trying to do.

What it is not:
(1) A study of Jane Austen’s novels.
(2) A work of scholarship tracing Austen’s literary influences in her texts.

Once I had rid myself of these suppositions, I could enjoy the book more. What it is: a memoir by a rare book dealer about her journey of discovering the greatness of female authors who were recognized and praised (more or less) by Jane Austen; and an interrogation of the notion that authorities can determine what is, and isn’t, worth reading. Rebecca Romney achieves these aims quite well.

Each of the book’s chapters zeroes in on a single author. After a short introductory chapter about Austen herself, Romney examines the life and literary contributions of Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Hannah More, Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth. (The chapter on Maria Edgeworth disappointed me a bit by leaving out what happened to Edgeworth after her father died; the back half of that chapter is devoted to laying out Romney’s main thesis.)

Romney takes an interesting path in her explorations, one non-obvious to those accustomed to scholarly research but nevertheless revealing and suited to her skills: she traces the reputations of the writers through editions of their books and literary commentaries about them over the course of centuries. She has a persistent interest in why these authors, so famous and revered in their day, largely disappeared from view after their deaths. What she uncovers is a pattern familiar to feminist critics—minimization, what I call “niching,” even lies attributing their work to others. She articulates clearly what many female readers have noticed over the years—that there is space in the “canon” of important literature for an infinite number of men but a limited number of women (basically, one per era), so the inclusion of one Georgian-era female author (Austen) demands the exclusion of all the others.

This is a familiar consequence of the “othering” of women, so I felt the observation could have been made at less length. I did find the book sometimes self-absorbed and windy; Romney could have articulated her conclusions without quite so lovingly tracing every step she took to get there. Nevertheless, for people who have not read about the lives or works of the authors she covers, the biographical details and the windows into their literary oeuvre are very valuable. Although I’m moderately fluent in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century fiction, I learned some new things along the way.

I also enjoyed the book-dealer-style detective work. It was fascinating to see how her collation discipline—the process of examining each page of a newly acquired volume to understand it better—and her critical reading of dealers’ book descriptions gave her important clues to the writers’ lives and the devaluation and revaluation of their reputations.

As an aside, a good companion work for people whose interest is sparked after reading this book would be Susannah Gibson’s The Bluestockings: A History of the First Women's Movement.

This examination of Austen’s precursors is not comprehensive: I missed mentions of Jane West, Susan Ferrier, Clara Reeves, Mary Hays, and more. That’s not a knock on the book, it’s just a recognition that there is more lode in this mine—an acknowledgment that would probably please Romney, since she situates her work explicitly in a larger context of explorers devoted to rediscovering the works of female writers. I don’t think Romney would object to being called a “partial, prejudiced historian.”

[Katie B · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

I took a chance on JANE AUSTEN’S BOOKSHELF as I was unsure if my limited knowledge on her works would be enough to fully appreciate this nonfiction book. Thankfully, the writing style is on the more engaging side rather than being dry and academic. It was a fascinating read that explored beyond just the writings of the women who inspired Jane Austen but also rare book collecting and the lives of the women writers.

While Jane Austen’s novels have stood the test of time sadly when it comes to other women writers of that era most of their works of fiction, poetry, and plays have fallen out of the public eye. Rebecca Romney, a rare book dealer, made it her mission to seek out these lesser known works and form her own opinions about the writings. Each chapter features a woman writer and gives biographical info as well as discussing common themes and how it relates to Jane’s writing. It was neat learning how the author went about tracking down these rare books and the business of book dealing and collecting.

Thank you to Mary Sue Rucci Books and Simon Element for providing a free advance copy! All thoughts expressed are my honest opinion.

[Paige · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so emotional about how much I loved this. My favorite book of the year so far, though admittedly, it is rather early.

Rare book collector Rebecca Romney chronicles her exploration of the women novelists who preceded and influenced Jane Austen. I was worried it would be too dry, but it so was not. Romney is not an academic, so this is written fairly casually. There were plenty of women writing well-regarded fiction during and before Austen's time - Austen referenced many in her own writing. Romney argues that the literary canon has basically forgotten them for reasons that are largely fickle and random, and that Austen, while incredible, may not be as singular as the literary canon would have us believe.

This was both a personal memoir of book collecting in addition to a history, and it was so perfectly exactly what I wanted. Now I have to go buy a physical copy, because I want to be able to refer back to it. I learned so many things, and now think I want to maybe check out Frances Burney and potentially a couple of others.

I'd also be lying if I said this didn't get me thinking a lot about Austen herself. Apparently it's her 250th birthday this year, so I feel a distinct theme coming on in my upcoming reading.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been wracking my brains trying to remember the title of the book I read a few years ago that covered similar ground. In this case the book suffers from a little too much of the author (I get that she's a book collector and bookseller, and learning some of her methods and tricks of the trade was interesting but her personal story? given the title and subtitle, not necessary). I was also confused why we get so much about Austen herself - wasn't this supposed to be more about the women authors who influenced her and possibly why we aren't as familiar with them as we are with Jane?

eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss.

[Edie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do I even need to write a review? The title alone is enough to sell the book to the right reader. This is a fascinating account of one person's quest to find the "forgotten" authors who influenced Austen. Rebecca Romney crafts a compelling story of intellectual inquiry and the hunt for rare books, anchored by a very honest depiction of the reading life. Romney admits to not reading certain books out of snobbish preconceptions, of loving some very flawed stories, of not being able to finish others. All of which I found relatable. And I am sure I am not the only one fascinated by the act of locating, acquiring, and creating a cohesive book collection as described here. Do I want to become a rare book collector now? Maybe. Or maybe I simply want to become more discerning about the books I bring into my own home. I appreciate how the author frames the story, the discussion around accessibility, the acknowledgement of this book as one in an ongoing discussion. Thank you to the author, publisher, and goodreads giveaways for the ARC.

[Miriam Simut · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

[Camelia Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebecca Romney is a rare book dealer. Jane Austen’s Bookshelf is part literary analysis and part book collecting. She collects books by women writers whom Jane Austen mentioned in her novels or in her letters. As a Jane Austen fan, I have been told, over and over again, that she was the first and the only woman writer in English literature before the Victorian Era who was worthy of our time, and there were either none or only inferior ones before her. How wrong it is.

There are a total of 8 Authors included in the book:

– Frances Burney (her courtship novels directly influenced Jane Austen)
– Ann Radcliffe (the most famous and influential gothic fiction author, directly influenced all later gothic writers, men or women; Dickens studied her book to learn how to write a cliffhanger)
– Charlotte Lennox (self-made, very independently minded woman with a distinctive personality; one of her heroines drew a sword to fight off her attacker)
– Charlotte Smith (an upper class poet who contributed to the revival of sonnet form in England, and a novelist who praised the French Revolution, all the while suffering in a terrible marriage)
– Hannah More (a moralist and an abolitionist, Jane Austen disliked her; Romney couldn’t finish either her book or her biography)
– Elizabeth Inchbald (born farm girl, a self-made actress, playwright and novelist, very popular, famous for her witty characters)
– Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi (an upper class woman who wrote beautiful travelogs and novels; after a terrible marriage, married an Italian musician for love)
– Maria Edgeworth (a popular and highly influential Anglo-Irish novelist and educator; Jane Austen admired her work; directly influenced Dickens; pigeonholed to be only an Irish writer after death)

Some anecdotes:

– “Romance” meant a story of imagination, not love. Books about love and marriage were called courtship novels.
– Why women often faint in Ann Radcliffe’s gothic fictions: possibly because it’s a freeze reaction; when they encountered a potential sexual assault, their class and manner wouldn’t allow them to flight or fight, so freeze was the only option

Books I should seek out:
– The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox
– A Simple Story by Elizabeth Inchbald, but only the first half as Romney suggested
– Castle Rackrent by Maria Edgeworth

Romney’s bookshop is about an hour drive from me. I’d love to see her Jane Austen’s Bookshelf collection, but sadly it’s by appointment only.

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part potted biography of the women writers Austen was reading, part memoir, with some added information on the rate book trade.

[Anne (In Search of Wonder) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely added to my TBR with this one!

[Christina O. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is a story of two books. I had an ARC of “Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend” sitting in my kindle waiting to be read, and Hoopla credits leftover on December 31st. I borrowed “Belinda” by Maria Edgeworth since I knew she was one of the authors in “Jane Austen’s Bookshelf.” I never expected I would actually listen to it, but I wanted an audiobook I wouldn’t get too pulled into, a 19th century novel seemed like a good choice. I was wrong. I read Rebecca Romney’s journey when I had time, and listened to “Belinda” while I was doing chores. In the beginning I was comparing “Belinda” to the other 19th century books I read in terms of quality and tropes. The farther I got into Romney’s journey, her passion for the books she was reading for the first time won me over. She isn’t just reading to study the book, she’s reading to enjoy the book. Somewhere along the way her journey gave me permission to fully enjoy “Belinda” on its own merit. The whole reading experience for both of these books inspired me and made me feel like I was getting back to my roots. I read books because I enjoy them, and I forgot classics other than my old favorites could be enjoyable. This entire experience was exciting and even emotional (there may have been tears). I was able to view old books as a reader again, rather than a critic. But that’s enough about me, here’s my actual review:

“Jane Austen’s Bookshelf” is part biography of 18th and 19th century women authors, and part memoir as Romney discovers these authors who were bestsellers of their time but have disappeared from literary canon. It begins when Romney decides to read through the women authors that Jane Austen read—authors she mentioned in her books or personal letters. Romney knew of Scott and Johnson and other famous male authors of the time, but she’s exploring why she’s never heard of women authors such as Frances Burney and Charlotte Lennox who Austen names as being favorites of hers. Through this exploration, Romney joyfully finds new books and authors who she loves, and she traces their careers through old books. Romney is a rare book collector and this brings a unique perspective as she decides which edition of the book she wants to add to her personal collection. There are luscious descriptions of old books. Beautiful old books with leather covers and gilt designs. Musty old books that are cracked and falling apart, but with amazing histories of their own. It makes you feel like you’re in the room with the books.

The perspective of a book collector also adds to the conversation as Romney is not a literary critic. She is reading the books for enjoyment and she tracks the rise and fall of these authors through how many editions were printed in the past. Many authors fell out of the canon because there wasn’t a way to access their books. But there is also a history of literary critics who have discredited and demeaned the works of these women. These literary critics create the canon which defines what gets published, and what gets studied in classrooms. These literary critics also produced texts that future critics stand upon to make their arguments and assessments—as such, one person’s opinion gets passed along as the standard of how these authors works are viewed.

“Jane Austen’s Bookshelf” is going to appeal to readers interested in women’s history, literary history, and Jane Austen fans. I also believe it is a valuable read for anyone pursuing a degree in English so that they understand how and why things are chosen as canon, and they can investigate a source before taking their opinion as fact when it comes to underrepresented authors. Like my reading experience with “Belinda,” “Jane Austen’s Bookshelf” wasn’t just an informative read, it was an enjoyable one.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Samidha; समिधा · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I’ve learned the confidence to distinguish between the taste of authorities and my own. Look into the past and read whatever resonates with you, not what we’re told are the best authors”

Romney’s writing was the perfect mix of creative and informative—reading this book was so much fun. I had hoped to find out more about the books that Jane Austen read, but instead I read about the lives of eight powerful women writers in the 18th century, who had directly/indirectly influenced Austen but yet were removed from the cannon. Even though Austen primarily wrote “romance novels” (with a very different definition of what romance meant back then), her reading tastes included gothic literature, conduct books, poetry, sonnets, and so much more. And much of this diversity came from the women authors Romney talks about. My favorites, though hard to pick, were Anne Radcliffe and Charlotte Lennox (what queens!).

My literature-loving-heart loved reading about these women and how they were connected with other male literary figures of that time; male writers who went on to become significantly more successful than the female authors because they didn’t have to publish their books anonymously.

I will admit all the talk of antiquarian book selling was the least likeable part of the book. Including how Romney found first and second editions of these books.

Although, except for that, I can only highly recommend this book!

[Abby Litrenta · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I liked this a lot, despite the author’s self-professed “feminist rage” and some bitterness about religion (due to an oppressive Mormon upbringing). Her research on each leading lady was incredibly thorough; she had studied their works, lives, letters and the people that influenced and befriended them. In each chapter, she wove fascinating anecdotes about her trade as a rare book dealer—something I now want to learn more about!
I, of course, disliked her bitterness about morality (especially in her chapter about Hannah Moore), and her disdain for marriage and childrearing (although granted, many of the women she studied were in terrible marriages). But the good outweighs the bad in this, and I couldn’t put this down. This book was less about how Jane Austen was influenced by these women, and more about how Jane Austen wasn’t the only gem of a woman writer to have lived in the 1800s. I definitely want to read some of these evidently very talented and influential women writers!

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF'd around 75% and hope to complete later. This is as much a memoir of Rebecca Romney as it is insight into the female authors who influenced Jane Austen. I was very intrigued by the behind-the-scenes look at the rare book trade, but not so interested in her feminist presuppositions or Mormon hurts projected onto Hannah More (who I respect for her connections to William Wilberforce and the abolition of the slave trade). I am very interested in reading the works of Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, and Maria Edgeworth in the future.