An Autobiography in the Form of a Treasure Hunt: Book Collecting as Storytelling with Rebecca Romney

Book collecting is often viewed as an intellectual pursuit, but it is equally an emotional one. Our collections are a reflection of our tastes, values, experiences, even our limitations—and our resilience in the face of them. In this talk, Rebecca Romney will provide an introduction to book collecting as an autobiographical endeavor, based upon personal examples from her book Jane Austen’s Bookshelf, which chronicles her efforts to build a rare book collection of Austen’s favorite women writers.