A new theory claims that Jane Austen was almost totally blind at the end of her life – because of accidental arsenic poisoning.

The British author of Pride and Prejudice died in 1817 at age 41.

Tests on three pairs of eyeglasses worn by Austen show her sight was increasingly failing as she grew older.

And based on the description of the author’s unusual facial pigmentation – crime writer Lindsay Ashford has speculated that Austen may have suffered from arsenic poisoning – as a result of the substance being commonly found in water supplies and medicines in Austen’s time.

The family of the renowned writer passed the eyeglasses to the British Library in 1999 – but it’s taken almost 20 years for any in depth study to be done on them.