A collection of your favorite author’s favorite authors on exhibition at the Park Avenue Armory
NEW YORK, March 19, 2025 (Ecnetnews.com)
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Romney’s book is as sharp an examination of the ‘great forgetting’ of female writers as you could wish for, uncowed by big-name critics, buoyed instead by the instincts of a single reader trusting her honest enjoyment over dusty tradition. – The Guardian
This year marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth. In celebration, rare book company Type Punch Matrix will display the collection of books built by co-founder Rebecca Romney for her latest book Jane Austen’s Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector’s Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend at the 65th Annual New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, which will be held April 3rd-6th at the Park Avenue Armory.
Called a “gem of passionate criticism” by The New York Times, “a perfect project, a perfect book” by LitHub, and “a meditation on […] what books can teach us” by The Washington Post, Jane Austen’s Bookshelf chronicles Romney’s efforts to build a book collection of Austen’s favorite women authors. Selected by Town and Country (“A can’t miss for Austen fans and literary lovers alike”) and Book Riot as one of the most anticipated titles of 2025, and featured on both The Today Show and NPR’s Morning Edition, 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.
According to Romney, “JAB recounts my experience reading and locating rare copies of books by these women, as well as drawing on connections between their words and Austen’s. By gathering the works of these once-famed writers, the collection physically recreates Austen’s bookshelf.”
Just as in the book, the exhibition will feature dozens of important editions by the writers who influenced Austen: Frances Burney, Ann Radcliffe, Charlotte Lennox, Charlotte Smith, Hannah More, Elizabeth Inchbald, Hester Lynch Thrale Piozzi, and Maria Edgeworth.
“I am thrilled to show the actual volumes that are described in the book,” Romney continues. “Book collecting is about appreciating books as individual historical objects. I can’t wait for these copies that inspired my book to begin to find their way into the hands of collectors and institutions.”
The collection will be on display (and books available for purchase) in Type Punch Matrix’s booth (A3) at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, opening at the Park Avenue Armory on Thursday April 3rd and continuing through Sunday April 6th.
Questions may be directed to Brian Cassidy or Rebecca Romney at Type Punch Matrix.
Email: info@typepunchmatrix.com
Telephone: 301-589-0789
Address: 1111 E West Hwy, Third Floor, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Contact Information
Rebecca Romney
Co-founder
info@typepunchmatrix.com
301-589-0789
Brian Cassidy
Co-Founder
301-589-0789
Source: Type Punch Matrix
