The Capital Rare Book Fair

 Rebecca Romney is the co-founder of the rare book company Type Punch Matrix, the co-founder of the Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize, and the book specialist on the HISTORY Channel's show Pawn Stars. Her upcoming book is Jane Austen's Bookshelf, chronicling her efforts to build a book collection of Austen's favorite women writers (Simon & Schuster, 2025). 

Deborah Kalb is a freelance writer and editor. She spent about two decades working as a journalist in Washington, D.C., for news organizations including Gannett News Service, Congressional Quarterly, U.S. News & World Report, and The Hill, mostly covering Congress and politics. Her book blog, Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, which she started in 2012, features hundreds of interviews she has conducted with a wide variety of authors. She's also the co-host of the new podcast Rereading Our Childhood.

Kalb is the author of the novel Off to Join the Circus, as well as three novels for kids, Thomas Jefferson and the Return of the Magic Hat, John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead, and George Washington and the Magic Hat— and she’s the co-author, with her father, Marvin Kalb, of Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama. She also has contributed to several reference books about government. 

Kermit Roosevelt III is the David Berger Professor for the Administration of Justice at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. Roosevelt works in a diverse range of fields, focusing on constitutional law and conflict of laws. He has published scholarly books in both fields. Conflict of Laws (Foundation Press, 2010) offers an accessible analytical overview of conflicts. The Myth of Judicial Activism: Making Sense of Supreme Court Decisions (Yale, 2006) sets out standards by which citizens can determine whether the Supreme Court is abusing its authority to interpret the Constitution.

He has published articles in the Virginia Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, and the Columbia Law Review, among others. He is also the author of two novels, In the Shadow of the Law (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005) and Allegiance (Regan Arts, 2015). In 2014, he was selected by the American Law Institute as the Reporter for the Third Restatement of Conflict of Laws.

The British monarchy is experiencing difficult times, with illness and disunity disrupting its functioning. Join two leading Royal experts to unpack what is happening and how the role of the monarchy is evolving in the 21st century.

Hugo Vickers is an author, Royal broadcaster and biographer. He is regularly called upon to commentate on important state occasions, and at times when the Royal Family are in the news. He has covered events from the first wedding of the Prince of Wales, many royal weddings and the funerals of Diana, the Queen Mother, Prince Philip and the State Funeral of The Queen. 

The Financial Times recently described Mr. Vickers as: ‘the most knowledgeable royal biographer on the planet.’ He has written many biographies of 20th century figures, including the designer Cecil Beaton, Vivien Leigh, the Duchess of Windsor, Princess Andrew of Greece, and the Queen Mother.

Jane Tippett is a historian and archivist. She graduated from University of Delaware with a BA in French, History and English Literature. She received her MSt. in History of Art from Wadham College, Oxford, where she wrote her dissertation on the centrality of provenance in the contemporary fine art auction market. Since graduating she has worked as a private archivist to high-net-worth families and interior design firms in New York City, Boston, and London. Once A King: The Lost Memoir of Edward VIII (Hodder & Stoughton, October 2023) is her first book. Her next book, Monsieur, which will be published in May 2024, is a survey of the photographic work of Patrick O’Higgins, the biographer and longtime companion of Helena Rubinstein. She lives between New York.  

The talk is included with admission to the fair. After the talk, guests will have the opportunity to attend a private cocktail reception with Mr. Vickers from 3 pm to 4 pm for an additional $50.