Bridport singer PJ Harvey's long anticipated book is now available, with proofs and an exclusive photograph gifted to Dorset Museum.

Orlam is a narrative poem set in a magic realist version of the west Country and is the first full-length book written in the Dorset dialect for many decades.

Harvey has presented Dorset Museum interim director, Elizabeth Selby, with a hand-corrected proof of Orlam, and an exclusive photograph of the singer wearing traditional Dorset buttons. She also gifted a published copy of Orlam, which she signed and wrote, 'I am so proud to be a local!'

She drew upon the work of 19th century Dorset dialect poet and co-founder of Dorset Museum, William Barnes, to write Orlam. A number of items from the museum's William Barnes collection were shown to her when she spent the afternoon there, much to her great delight and interest. These included manuscript poems, early editions of published works invluding Barnes' Dorset dialect glossary, and a replica of the humstrum, a traditional instrument described by Barnes in his poem, The Humstrum.

Harvey and her mother, Eva, were given a tour of the museum, where they were particularly drawn to a pair of buckled shoes worn by William Barnes, a replica of the Dorset Ooser - a wooden head or mask used in the 19th century folklore of Melbury Osmund, and referenced by Harvey in Orlam - and Thomas Hardy's writing pens.

Dorset Museum hopes to display the items gifted by Harvey in the near future.

Elizabeth Selby said: "We are thrilled and honoured that PJ Harvey has chosen to gift the museum these wonderful items.

"Harvey's award-winning career, which spans over 30 years, has been extraordinary and wide-ranging - her achievements and creative output are something of which Dorset can be proud. 

"She follows in a long tradition of writers, including William Barnes, Thomas Hardy and Sylvia Townsend Warner whose work is shaped by Dorset, and who are represented in the museum's collections. It is only fitting that these items should be deposited here."

Born in 1969 in Bridport, Polly Jean Harvey grew up in the Dorset village of Corscombe and released her first album Dry with her band PJ Harvey in 1992.

She is the only musician to have been awarded the Mercury Music Prize twice, in 2001 and 2011. In 2013, she was awarded an MBE for services to music.

Her debut poetry collection, The Hollow of the Hand, was published in 2015 and created in collaboration with photographer Seamus Murphy.