The copy of Lady Chatterley’s Lover used by the judge in the landmark 1960 obscenity trial is to remain in the UK, after the University of Bristol stepped forward to augment the money raised by a crowdfunding campaign backed by writers including Neil Gaiman and Stephen Fry.

The book, which bears notes from Mr Justice Byrne’s wife, Lady Dorothy Byrne, to show where DH Lawrence strays into “coarse” territory and “love making”, was sold at auction last year to an overseas buyer for £56,250. But an export bar was placed on it by the government in the hope a UK buyer would match the price to keep in the country.

A news picture from 1960, purporting to show London ‘office girls’ buying copies of the book for their colleagues after the trial. Photograph: Philip Jackson/Daily Mail/Rex

Byrne’s copy has been described as “the last surviving contemporary ‘witness’” to the 1960 trial of Penguin Books, which was a test case for the Obscene Publications Act. The jury took three hours to return a not guilty verdict for Penguin, with Lady Chatterley’s Lover going on to sell 2m copies in just two years.

After a crowdfunding appeal from English Pen raised more than £20,000, and Penguin Books and the TS Eliot estate donated a combined £15,000, the University of Bristol has stepped forward to acquire the book. It is “proactively seeking financial support from alumni and friends of the university to reach the rest of the total purchase price”, and will house the book in its collections as part of the Penguin Archive.

“This special book will be a source of inspiration, teaching and research for our staff, students and visitors, supporting the university’s creative, scholarly and social outcomes for years to come,” said deputy vice-chancellor, professor Judith Squires. “It will be a focal point in our new university library, which is planned to open in 2023/24, providing specialist research facilities, galleries and public event spaces.”

English Pen president Philippe Sands said the free speech organisation was thrilled that the campaign had been successful. “The trial involving Lady Chatterley’s Lover was a seminal moment in the continuing struggle for freedom of expression, and the judge’s copy belongs here in the UK, a singular reminder of the road travelled and remaining.”

Gaiman, who was born the day after Lady Chatterley was made legal, said it was important that the book stayed in the UK. “That a crowd of people came together to contribute is proof that the internet is actually good for something,” he said.