An exhibition celebrating Jane Austen's Southampton connections has opened at SeaCity Museum.
'A Very Respectable Company – Jane Austen and her Southampton Circle' will run from March 29 until late October.
The exhibit is part of a city-wide programme celebrating the 250th anniversary of the author's birth.
It focuses on the female network of friends Austen had in Southampton, many of whom could have been the inspiration for her iconic female fictional characters.
The opening night saw around 90 people gather to view the exhibit and listen to speeches, including from author and historian Dr Cheryl Butler.
READ MORE: Jane Austen walking tour to take place in Southampton
Dr Butler said: "When you read a lot of books about Jane Austen's life, it often skips over her time in Southampton, but it was a lot more complex.
"The exhibition looks at the circle she knew, and the families she knew.
"It is a bit of Southampton history that was lost, the 100 years it was a spa town.
"Southampton is definitely a place that has influenced her and her writing."
The exhibit was well received by those in attendance, who say the personal letters and artefacts helped to bring Jane Asten's time in the city "to life".
READ MORE: Jane Austen events in Southampton to celebrate author's life
Alison Evans, who attended with her daughter Ellen, said: "It is lovely to see Southampton is making a connection during a special time.
"It is interesting.
"It is nice people have gone through the archive and looked for those connections and brought them to life."
Lance Sucharov, who attended with his wife Penny, said: "I think they have some good little artefacts, going back a hundred or two hundred years."
Another attendee, Louise Govier, appreciated the 'household book', a handwritten guide handed down in the family.
She said: "I love Jane Austen.
"Reading the household book and all these letters brings it to life; that is what I love about this kind of exhibition.
"I don't think people know that she stayed here as much as she did, I think this and the other activities planned this year are going to change that."
SeaCity Curator Maria Newbury added: "We have been very fortunate to be able to borrow things from descendants of people who knew Jane Austen when she was living in Southampton."
The exhibition includes figures like Charlotte Fitzhugh, who married into a wealthy East India Company and was a superfan of Austen’s favourite actress, Sarah Siddons, and Anne Middleton, a mixed-race plantation heiress from Jamaica whose private life was splashed across national newspapers.
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