HISTORICAL artefacts which belonged to a world-famous author with connections to Basingstoke will go on display in the town.

Hampshire Cultural Trust (HCT) has secured Jane Austen’s writing desk, manuscript, spectacles and one of her early works on loan from the British Library to display at the Willis Museum next January.

The early work is The History of England, a 1791 work by Austen, written when she was just 15-years-old and living in Steventon.

Various people attended a launch event at the museum last Friday when the exciting news was revealed.

Janet Owen, chief executive of HCT, told The Gazette: “We are really delighted because what it means is we are bringing Jane Austen back home to Basingstoke and Hampshire. In 2017 it will be the 200th anniversary of her death. She spent most of her young life right here in Basingstoke and Deane and she probably came to Basingstoke for evening events and markets.”

In 2017 HCT will put on a programme of events and exhibitions, called Jane Austen 200, in Hampshire to celebrate the Pride and Prejudice author.

Dr Owen said she hopes the exhibition in January will inspire people to become involved with the 2017 commemorations.

She added: “It will be a fantastic coup for Hampshire to bring some of Jane Austen’s most important possessions back to the place where she lived and worked. Our aim is to bring the best items and exhibits from across the world to Hampshire.”

Basingstoke MP Maria Miller was also at the launch event, and said: “The objective is to make sure that Basingstoke knows that Jane Austen is our most famous daughter. We want to bring Jane Austen home to Basingstoke because she was born in the borough, she did most of her important work in the borough and I think we all need to be proud of the fact that she’s one of our most famous residents.

“The January exhibition is a way of creating more awareness of the fact that 2017 will be the 200th anniversary of the death of Jane Austen. She died in Winchester but she lived in Basingstoke.”

Referring to the exhibition, Mrs Miller added: “I think it’s hugely exciting for our town and our borough because Jane Austen is the world’s first novelist and one of the world’s greatest novelists and she got her inspiration from our community, from some of the families who still live here.

“That heritage is something Basingstoke should be proud of and the exhibition will give us the opportunity to throw a spotlight on that.”