Original texts of the US Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence will be on display in the UK for the first time next year as part of the British Library’s exhibition to commemorate the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.

The Bill of Rights, loaned by the US National Archives, is one of 12 surviving copies of the document, made in 1789. The Declaration of Independence, loaned by New York Public Library, is the text that Thomas Jefferson copied in his own hand in 1776.

The exhibition is sponsored by magic circle firm Linklaters. Senior partner Robert Elliott said he is delighted to bring together ‘three of the most important documents ever created’.