Jane Austens Bookshelf

When rare book dealer Rebecca Romney discovered a copy of Evelina by Frances Burney—one of Jane Austen’s favorite authors—she was inspired to revisit Austen’s work through the lens of the women writers Austen admired. While familiar with names like Shakespeare and Milton, Romney realized she hadn’t read many of the female authors Austen cherished—Burney, Radcliffe, Lennox, Smith, and more—who once filled Austen’s shelves but have since vanished from ours. This discovery sparked a mission to uncover their stories, understand their erasure from literary history, and rebuild what she calls “Jane Austen’s bookshelf.”