It is a truth universally acknowledged that a lover of fine literature must not miss an afternoon devoted to Jane Austen—beloved author of Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and more. This special High Tea, featuring author Rebecca Romney, takes place during Homecoming 2025 at the University Library.
Rebecca Romney is the co-founder of Type Punch Matrix, a rare book company based in the DC metro area. She is the author of Printer’s Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History (HarperCollins; with JP Romney) and The Romance Novel in English: A Survey in Rare Books, 1769-1999. Her latest book is Jane Austen's Bookshelf (Simon & Schuster), called by The New York Times Book Review a “gem of passionate criticism” and by The Guardian “as sharp an examination of the 'great forgetting' of female writers as you could wish for.” Since 2011 she has appeared as the rare book specialist on the History Channel’s show Pawn Stars; in 2019, she was featured in the documentary on the rare book trade, The Booksellers. Rebecca's roles in the wider rare book community include co-founding the Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize, serving on the Council of the Bibliographical Society of America and on the board of the the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), and teaching as faculty at the Antiquarian Book Seminar (CABS-Minnesota). She is a member of the Grolier Club, the Association Internationale de Bibliophilie (AIB), the American Antiquarian Society (AAS), and the Baker Street Irregulars (BSI).
Header image courtesy of Austen, J. (1901). Sense and sensibility. (H. M. Brock & C. E. Brock, Ills.; R. B. Johnson, Ed.; Third edition.). J.M. Dent & Co.