Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend - Rebecca Romney - ★★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Rebecca Romney

GENRE: Nonfiction, Feminism, Biography

PUBLICATION DATE: February 18, 2025

RATING: 4.25 stars.

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.

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 other women writers in subsequent chapters, with each chapter profiling one writer. (I am deliberately not naming any of these authors 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 I 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.

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.