Notable Romance Collectors
More coming soon! Are you a romance collector with a social media platform or website where you share about your collection? If so, & if you’d like to be included on this page, please let me know!
- Steve Ammidown
- An archivist, romance historian, podcaster, & collector, Ammidown provides a wealth of knowledge & experience on all aspects of romance. He’s also the author of one of the few mainstream articles on collecting romance in recent publication — the Summer 2022 issue of Fine Books & Collections (the article is not available online, but the magazine can be purchased from the website).
- Funmi Baker
- A dedicated collector of Beverly Jenkins’s novels and all things connected to them, Baker was featured in the Summer 2022 issue of Fine Books & Collections (The article is not available online, but the magazine can be purchased from the website). Her Twitter/X account is linked in her name, above
- Susannah Clark
- Clark has what is possibly the largest collection of vintage nurse romances in private hands. In 2023 she was featured in The Boston Globe(this direct link requires a sign-up; you can also read the article without sign-up on Clark’s website, linked to her name above). She has two blogs — one where she shares and reviews books and one where she features nurse romance covers and illustrators. Additionally, she founded Nurse Novels Publishing, which reissues some of these out of print books
- Rob Imes
- In addition to being a collector, Imes has also created a treasure trove of useful resources for other romance collectors which he sometimes shares on his blog (where he also writes about comics), & a vintage romance Facebook page. He also has a YouTube channel where he sometimes features his romance novel collection. Direct links to the bibliographies & indexes on his blog, which isn’t searchable, are as follows:
- Jessica Kahan
- The inaugural winner of the Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize, Kahan’s collection features romances from the 1920s and 30s in their original dust jackets. In addition to her blog (linked to her name, above), you can read more about the prize and her collection here
- Ginny Moench-Barba
- Moench-Barba’s collection features romances with cover illustrations by Sharon Spiak. She shares them frequently on her Instagram account, linked in her name, above
- Mary Lynne Nielsen
- A popular romance “bookstagrammer,” Nielsen regularly shares photos of books & original art from her collection on Instagram along with interesting information about each book, including its author and illustrator & where the book fits into the history and development of the genre. She also has a website (linked to her name, above), that features illustrator interviews and articles celebrating romance
- Rebecca Romney
- Not only is Romney the foremost rare book seller advocating for romance in the rare book trade(see the Resources & Education and Where And How To Purchase pages), she’s also a romance collector! She references her own collection in her romance podcast appearances (linked in Resources & Education) and occasionally shares about it on her Twitter/X, BlueSky & Instagram accounts. One notable post is linked in her name, above, and two others here (see entire thread) and here
- Lucynka Staron
- Pulp romance magazines from the first half of the 20th century were prolific in their day but are largely forgotten today. Thankfully, Staron is remedying this by researching & collecting the magazines & reviewing some of the stories on her blog (linked in her name, above)