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

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?

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

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.

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

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 ...

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 ...

Shortly after it begins, Rebecca Romney’s first solo work of nonfiction ... comes upon a 1778 novel by a woman who turns out to have been one of Jane Austen’s favorite authors.