Important news about visiting the library – Morrab Library is open, but by appointment only.
At this time, our service is very limited. Please read our guidelines before you visit.
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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 70,000 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 the rambling rooms of a delightful Victorian building.
We are open Tuesday – Saturday 10am-4pm.
Latest news
Visiting the Library
You may like to make a cuppa to get you through this long document! But please read on carefully as it does contain a lot of important information. Visiting the Library We are delighted to say that Morrab Library is open again, although in a very limited...
A reopening, of sorts…..
Dear Members, You'll have seen the news from the Government yesterday confirming permission to reopen libraries from the 4th July. After consultation between Trustees and staff, we are happy to say that Morrab Library will be able to reopen with a limited service from...
Hilda Quick & VE Day
The library is lucky to hold archives of work by the Cornish artist and illustrator Hilda Quick. Quick was born in Penzance in 1895 and trained at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, London, later specialising in wood engravings. Locally, she created designs...
If 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.
Whether 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.
Formally 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.