Gina Luria Walker, associate professor of Women’s Studies at The New School for General Studies, has been named editor of the new Chawton House Library edition of Mary Hays’ six-volume Female Biography, originally published in 1803, which was modeled on Pierre Bayle’s Biographical and Critical Dictionary. Jane Austen is believed to have consulted Female Biography while producing her novels.

A small group of international scholars and students from The New School, Rutgers University, Sarah Lawrence College, and Smith College will assist in researching the 288 women Hays included in the work. Pickering and Chatto will publish Chawton House Library edition, with the first three volumes scheduled for 2013 and the last three for 2014.

The Chawton House Library, (www.chawtonhouse.org ) is an independent research library and study center that focuses on women’s writing in English from 1600 to 1830. Its collection is housed in an Elizabethan manor house in Chawton, England, that once belonged to Jane Austen’s brother. The library’s main aim is to promote and facilitate study of early women’s writing. The Chawton House Library editions publish new scholarly editions of selected rare texts from the library’s collection.