A unique multi-million pound treasure trove of writings from some of the greatest world figures of the past two hundred years could be on its way to the National Library of Scotland.

This outstanding archive containing private letters, manuscripts and other correspondence from Jane Austen, Lord Byron, Sir Walter Scott, Benjamin Disraeli, Herman Melville, Charles Darwin, David Livingstone, Thomas Carlyle, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edith Wharton, to name a few, is being offered to the National Library at a reduced price in order that the collection is kept in Britain.

The Murray publishing family, which is based in London, owns the archive but the current head of the family, John Murray VII, wants the collection to be placed in the National Library of Scotland because of the strong Scottish content and the fact that John Murray I was born in Edinburgh.

The collection would be sold to the National Library of Scotland for just over £33m. Experts believe the true market value of the archive to be in the region of at least £45m