SCIENCE fiction fans can get their hands on some personal items belonging to one of the genre’s all-time greats next week.

A County Durham auction house is marking the start of 2016 with the sale of grooming items once owned by HG Wells – one of England’s greatest science fiction writers and author of the celebrated novella The Time Machine.

In its first sale of the year, the dressing table set that came from Well’s house in Regents Park, London, will be presented by Thomas Watson auctioneers and valuers at its Darlington saleroom on January 12.

Comprising four brushes, a hand mirror, shoehorn and lidded container, the collection came by family succession to the author’s granddaughter who lives near Barnard Castle and carries a signed letter of authenticity.

Together, the pieces are expected to reach between £50 and £100 at auction.

“It is always interesting to have artefacts that were owned by famous people,” said David Elstob, valuer and auctioneer at Thomas Watson.

“However, it is particularly fitting that we should be selling this particular lot at the start of a new year when people’s attention is naturally focused on the passage of time.”

Following the publication of The Time Machine in 1895, HG Wells has been generally credited with the popularisation of time travel by using a vehicle that allows the operator to travel purposefully and selectively.

The work has since been adapted into two feature films of the same name – the 2002 version starring Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons and a 1960 feature starring Rod Taylor – and two popular television productions.

The author, who died in 1946, is also known for The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898) and is often referred to as the father of the science fiction genre.

He was nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in four different years.

The sale itself starts at 10am and bidding can be made in person or online via www.the-saleroom.com/thomaswatson