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A rich resource for research, or a place to borrow the latest novel.
Morrab Library is an independent library established in 1818, situated in the beautiful Morrab Gardens in Penzance, Cornwall. We hold over 55,000 books on floor-to-ceiling shelves as well as archives and a rich photographic collection. The library contains a wide range of both fiction and non-fiction books in floor to ceiling shelves in the rambling rooms of a delightful Victorian building.
We are open Tuesday – Saturday 10am-4pm.
Latest news
Book Review – PAMIR: A Voyage To Rio In a Four-Masted Barque
Our latest blog features a review of one of our library treasures from a member, Dave Hill. He loved PAMIR - A Voyage To Rio In a Four-Masted Barque by Hilary Tunstall-Behrens, published in 1956. Hilary was still young when he signed on to sail in the Pamir in 1951...
read moreWhat you can find in the Morrab Library – Writers with Tuberculosis
If you go through the green baize door into the Reading Room at the Morrab Library, you will see in front of you a shelf with the title “WHAT YOU CAN FIND IN THE MORRAB” The selection of books displayed will change approximately every month. It is intended to...
read moreApologies – Library closed today due to high winds!
Friday, 8th February 2019 We're sorry to say that the library will be closed today. Due to high winds, the Council have closed the gardens, so access to the library will not be possible. If the weather improves dramatically over the course of the day, and the garden...
read moreIf there is an afterlife, I very much hope that those good enough in this one might be rewarded with an exact replica of the Morrab Library – to sit out eternity browsing its shelves, reading in its chairs, and looking out of its high windows.
Philip MarsdenWhether you’re an impassioned bibliophile or just someone who loves a good read, the Morrab is for you: a Cornish treasure house, a meeting place for like-minded souls, and a vibrant forum for contemporary writing.
John le CarréFormally known, in those days, as the Penzance Library, the elegant house in its beautiful garden had a welcoming atmosphere and BOOKS – rooms full of them, in shelves floor to ceiling, on every topic I could possibly want to read about…it’s…a treasure house, an island of civilization and tranquility in an ever faster and more furious world.
Jessica Mann