'Literary' usage when possessive pronoun begins sentence

I am unsure the correct wording of this question. Could anyone point me to usage notes or guidance on a construction such as this:

'Theirs was a position known to few.' Or, 'His was a car without equal.'

It seems this is a slightly more literary usage, as clearly the two examples could be rephrased as 'Their position was known to few' and 'His car was without equal.' Is this a form of inversion, which therefore gives it its feeling of being more literary?

This is called an 'independent possessive pronoun' or an independent possessive determiner .

They also appear in other situations :

My car is in the garage : can I borrow yours ?

Your own example is, indeed, a literary device which emphasises the importance of that which is possessed, by stating the possession independently of the thing itself.