Rebecca Romney is the author of Jane Austen's Bookshelf, a rare book dealer, and the cofounder of Type Punch Matrix, a rare book company based in Washington, DC. She was the rare books specialist on the HISTORY Channel's show Pawn Stars, and in 2019, she was featured in the documentary on the rare book trade, The Booksellers.
Jane Austen (1775-1817) published four novels, each after much revision, without signing her name to them: Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816). She died in Winchester on July 18, 1817. Two other novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion (1817), were published posthumously in December 1817, with a biographical notice by her brother Henry Austen. He publicly revealed her as the author of all six novels. She also left unpublished compositions, including a short epistolary novel, Lady Susan; two unfinished novels, The Watsons and Sanditon; and three volumes of juvenilia. Today, her writing is among the most respected, enduring, and frequently quoted masterpieces in the English language.
