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New Additions: Fiction

by India Vaughan-Wilson | Sep 16, 2017 | Acquisitions, Morrab Library

A handful of the latest fiction additions to our shelves.

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The Morrab Library

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The theme of @librariesweek this year is libraries in the digital world & this week we're celebrating our 200-year-old library in the 21st century... This made us think of something one of our younger volunteers has written about her time in the library (she has been completing her Duke of Edinburgh volunteering with us) "...just being at the library I lose track of time and I end up spending a few hours here. By doing this it takes me away from my phone and stress…the atmosphere is so peaceful and quiet it feels like you’re in a different place, completely stress free. Which is absolutely needed in this 21st century." We couldn't agree more.

#librariesweek #librarylife
#reading #peace #quiet
#victorian #home
#morrablibrary

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We're honoured that artist John Trigg has donated to the library his collection of drawing books spanning 40 years. (Some of the work pictured here is from time spent in Venice). On Wednesday 23rd October he will be giving a short talk about the books & his life's work as we celebrate this wonderful gift to the library. There will then be an opportunity to see the books on display in their new home.
You can find out more about John & his work on his website https://johntriggartist.com

#drawing #art #library #archives #cornwall #venice #architecture #angels

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Travel back in time with our 2020 Calendar ... We're delighted to say we've produced a 2020 Calendar using photographs from our Cornish Photo Archive. & It's now available for purchase at the library. At £10 it's the perfect gift and a great way to support the library.

Stocks are limited! All proceeds go to the library.

#morrablibrary #calendar #photography #history #cornwall #heritage

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3rd of August 1955 saw the first English language performance of Samuel Beckett’s play ‘Waiting for Godot’ at the Arts Theatre in London.

Composed in French in 1948-49, Beckett’s work (found in Morrab’s gorgeous Reading Room) centres around two tramps - named Estragon and Vladimir - who are waiting for the arrival of Godot, who never arrives. Over time it has been analysed as a possible allegory of Britain’s perceived imposition on Ireland, or a representation of the Cold War; Bernard Dukore described it as as a metaphor for the futility of the existence of man when salvation is expected from an external entity, and the self is denied introspection.

Waiting for Godot is now recognised as a major development in 20th-Century drama, and paved the way for the works of writers such as Harold Pinter and Joe Orton; in 1990 it was voted “the most significant play of the twentieth century”. “To every man his little cross.” - Vladimir in Waiting for Godot

#waitingforgodot #20thcenturytheatre #ArtsTheatre #samuelbeckett #frenchliterature #morrablibrary

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The groundbreaking author Emily Brontë was born on this day. Naturally we have on our shelves a wealth of all things Brontë but what you may not know is that we have in our archives a short handwritten note by her sister Charlotte. The note is to her lifelong friend Ellen Nussey and mentions a family cow and the dangers of doctors! Though brief and everyday it’s so exciting to see and touch these words written in her own hand.

#emilybronte #otd #charlottebronte #archives #letters #librarylife #englishliterature #friendship

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“If I have done anything, even a little, to help small children enjoy honest, simple pleasures, I have done a bit of good.” - Beatrix Potter

On July 28th, 1866 Beatrix Potter was born in Bolton Gardens, Kensington. Throughout her life she adored nature and her treasured books are photographed here in the lovely Morrab Gardens.

Towards the end of her life she became a sheep farmer and was dedicated to both the younger generation and the outdoors. She lent her land to the Girl Guides and often stopped by to hear them sing and watch them grow; even when weakened by surgery and age she would still walk out into the meadows to see her sheep and talk to her shepherds. She was wholly devoted to her animals, especially the hedgehogs she tamed, and featured many of them in her beloved stories.

#beatrixpotter #otd #peterrabbit #morrabgardens #penzance #nature#summer #happybirthday #animals #childrensliterature #tales

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The classic illustrated satirical magazine, Punch, first appeared on July 17th in 1841, 178 years ago today. The library's collections hold a near-complete run of the magazine, including the first edition (pictured) and going up to 1972.

Its founders, wood engraver Ebenezer Landells and writer Henry Mayhew, got the idea for the magazine from a satirical French paper, Le Charivari - as you can see the first issue came with the alternative title "The London Charivari". In the introduction Punch is described as ‘a refuge for destitute wit’, an ‘asylum for the thousands of orphan jokes’ and ‘millions of perishing puns which are now wandering about without so much as a shelf to rest upon’. Early contributors included William Makepeace Thackeray and one of the first illustrators was the caricaturist and artist John Leech.

#punchmagazine #otd #onthisday #libraries #archives #firstedition #cartoons #satire

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On this day in 1937 poet Dylan Thomas, aged 22, married Caitlin Macnamara, 23, at the old Registry Office in Penzance. Today we made a (two minute) pilgrimage to the old Registry Office, now Phoenix House, just up the road from the library and took this photograph. ♥

#dylanthomas #poet #onthisday #penzance #cornwall #wales #seaside #morrablibrary

From 'In my craft and sullen art'

Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art.

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"I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journeywork of the stars" 🌿

May 31st is the bicentenary of
iconic American poet Walt Whitman’s birth. We’ve rediscovered our lovely Everyman’s Library volume of Leaves of Grass, a classic which stands to this day.

#waltwhitman #leavesofgrass #roots #poetry #morrablibrary #classics #everymanslibrary #happybirthday #bicentenary

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