Photo: Ian Kingsnorth
We are excited to say that The Sunday Times has named The Morrab Library as one of the UK’s most enchanting libraries! We are in some illustrious company too.
Of course, it’s no secret to those who already know about our beloved library, but now many more people know too!
Click on these links to see the lists of books purchased by the library in the Autumn and Winter of 2025.
Don’t forget you can make your own suggestions via the book at the front desk – or just get in touch with library staff. The Book Selection Committee meets three times a year and considers all suggestions.
If you’d like to read anything on the lists, just contact library staff and we’ll reserve it for you.
New Fiction purchased for The Morrab Library – Autumn/Winter 2025
New Non-Fiction purchased for The Morrab Library – Autumn/Winter 2025
We would like to introduce you to the library’s new tote bag – on sale now at the library.
Made from natural cotton with long sturdy handles, the bags are perfect for carrying your library loans home with you, or filling up with treats and gifts from one of our Fairs.
The beautiful image of the library, nestled within the Morrab Gardens, was designed by our very own library assistant, Harriet-Jade Harrow.
Bags cost £10 each, and proceeds will go to the care and maintenance of your library and its important and special collections. Why not buy one for yourself, or as a Christmas gift?
For an additional postage charge, we can send bags in the mail to you – just contact library staff at enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk for more information and to order.
The Library’s Christmas card selection for 2025 is now available for purchase.
This year, we have gone retro, bringing back some of our most popular cards from previous years, and introducing a special new addition from our Hilda Quick collection.
Our first card shows children playing in a snowy Morrab Gardens just outside the library in the 1960s, an image from our historic Photo Archive collection. The emulsion damage to the negative serves to enhance the festive feel of this photo.
Our second is the lovely scene of the Richards family of Penzance and their friends stirring up the Christmas Pudding in 1934.
Next up, our own Harriet-Jade Harrow’s Christmas card of 2023, featuring the Morrab Gardens wildlife visiting the library.
And finally, we are delighted to introduce our new addition, a reproduction of a Christmas card designed and used by local artist Hilda Quick in 1949. Her beautiful woodblock engravings and paintings are held in the library’s archive.
Prices
We are happy to send you your order in the post for a small additional postage fee, if you can’t make it in to collect them.
Drop in, or contact the library at enquiries@morrablibrary.org.uk
One of our Library volunteers, Michael Malone-Lee, recently happened upon an unusual, witty, anonymously published poem in an innocuous volume in the Theology Room, dating from 1811.
Enchanted and intrigued, Michael delved deeper to uncover its author, the Revd. C. Valentine Le Grice (1773-1858), and explores the background to his entertaining piece, The Petition of an Old Uninhabited House in Penzance to its Master in Town.
The poem is a lament for the past in which the poet contrasts the ancient, ruined house with the contemporary gentrification of Penzance, a subject perhaps still of relevance today.
A view of Penzance, printed and published by J.F. Vibert, 1833 (MOR/VIV/16)