Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Adrian Van Sinderen Lecture: “An Autobiography in the Form of a Treasure Hunt: Book Collecting as Storytelling”

The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Adrian Van Sinderen Lecture presents 

Rebecca Romney:  

“An Autobiography in the Form of a Treasure Hunt: Book Collecting as Storytelling.”

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.