Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

Bibliophiles beware, this book not only engenders a new understanding and desire to know more about collectible editions by underappreciated authors of the past; it also will add more recently published titles to your TBR lists. Austen family stories and a chronicle of Jane's journey to publication would be engaging enough, but rare book specialist Romney's thoughtful investigation of eight women authors who inspired Austen--Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Hannah More, Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzo, and Maria Edgeworth--makes this a book to savor. Romney's overview of the world of publishing in Regency England and how gender restrictions and social attitudes impacted women authors' ability to write, be published, and find readers is fascinating. Her recounting of the lives and work of these writers who have often been omitted from literary history is exciting. Her illumination of Austen's sly references in her novels to these writers she greatly admired will have readers returning to Austen's works with fresh perspectives. The appendix, "Selected Books from the Jane Austen Bookshelf," reads like an exhibit catalog with physical descriptions of individual works by each author, and the lengthy bibliography may inspire additional research by readers. In all, a delight for Janeites and all booklovers.

In this astute inquiry, rare books dealer Romney (coauthor of Printer's Error) profiles the largely forgotten women writers who influenced Jane Austen. Romney suggests that Austen's ambiguous endings that feature villains who escape their comeuppance reflect the imprint of Charlotte Smith, who wrote such feminist novels as Desmond to support herself and her children after separating from her husband left her destitute. Sexist double standards were a constant in the Georgian writers' lives, Romney notes, describing how the kind of brash literary criticism that earned Samuel Johnson fame brought mainly scorn for his contemporary, novelist Charlotte Lennox ("Women could be witty--but not too witty"). Incisively dissecting how Austen's forebears got written out of the English canon, Romney shows how late-19th-century male critics unfavorably compared them with Austen despite rarely pitting the era's male authors against her or each other, implying that the critics were only willing to recognize a single, token woman author. Romney also makes a vehement case that Austen's influences are major talents in their own right, as when she argues that Frances Burney's "straight talk" style enabled her to directly tackle such topics as catcalling that Austen's subtler approach handled only incidentally. This is a must for Janeites. Agent: Michelle Brower, Trellis Literary. (Feb.)

*Starred Review* Bibliophiles beware, this book not only engenders a new understanding and desire to know more about collectible editions by underappreciated authors of the past; it also will add more recently published titles to your TBR lists. Austen family stories and a chronicle of Jane's journey to publication would be engaging enough, but rare book specialist Romney's thoughtful investigation of eight women authors who inspired Austen—Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Hannah More, Charlotte Smith, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzo, and Maria Edgeworth—makes this a book to savor. Romney's overview of the world of publishing in Regency England and how gender restrictions and social attitudes impacted women authors' ability to write, be published, and find readers is fascinating. Her recounting of the lives and work of these writers who have often been omitted from literary history is exciting. Her illumination of Austen's sly references in her novels to these writers she greatly admired will have readers returning to Austen's works with fresh perspectives. The appendix, Selected Books from the Jane Austen Bookshelf, reads like an exhibit catalog with physical descriptions of individual works by each author, and the lengthy bibliography may inspire additional research by readers. In all, a delight for Janeites and all booklovers. Copyright 2025 Booklist Reviews.

In this astute inquiry, rare books dealer Romney (coauthor of Printer's Error) profiles the largely forgotten women writers who influenced Jane Austen. Romney suggests that Austen's ambiguous endings that feature villains who escape their comeuppance reflect the imprint of Charlotte Smith, who wrote such feminist novels as Desmond to support herself and her children after separating from her husband left her destitute. Sexist double standards were a constant in the Georgian writers' lives, Romney notes, describing how the kind of brash literary criticism that earned Samuel Johnson fame brought mainly scorn for his contemporary, novelist Charlotte Lennox ("Women could be witty—but not too witty"). Incisively dissecting how Austen's forebears got written out of the English canon, Romney shows how late-19th-century male critics unfavorably compared them with Austen despite rarely pitting the era's male authors against her or each other, implying that the critics were only willing to recognize a single, token woman author. Romney also makes a vehement case that Austen's influences are major talents in their own right, as when she argues that Frances Burney's "straight talk" style enabled her to directly tackle such topics as catcalling that Austen's subtler approach handled only incidentally. This is a must for Janeites. Agent: Michelle Brower, Trellis Literary. (Feb.)