This year’s Morrab Library Christmas Cards are now on sale, featuring a beautiful image by own staff member Harriet.
You can purchase them from reception at £1.00 per card, £2.75 for a pack of three, or £4.75 for a pack of five.
All proceeds go to the care of the Library.
We’re happy to post cards to you for a small additional fee if you can’t make it into the Library.
Illustration: @harrietjadeharrow
In 2021, Exeter University student J.T. Albright made his first visit to Morrab Library, one which would change the course of his academic career and, through our archives, immerse him into the world of Regency Penzance. Having now graduated and moved further afield to York to continue his studies, J.T. has not only shared this beautiful blog about his time with us at the Library (see below), but also given us access to his brilliant dissertation, which clearly demonstrates the value of our archive collections. You can click here to read his paper, wonderfully titled : ‘It is a Truth Universally Acknowledged That There are no Secrets: Gossip’s Role in the Regency Era Ballroom’
Where does one begin when extolling the virtues of the Morrab Library? Many of them are self-evident: the elegant house full of old books, the sea views and picturesque surroundings of Morrab Gardens, friendly faces and cups of tea, the list could go on infinitely, yet I would say its delights go far deeper than those, lovely as they are. My relationship with the Morrab Library started on a rainy autumn day in 2021 when, at the behest of a dear professor of mine from the University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, I decided to make the long journey by bus from my home in Penryn in order to see the magical environment for myself. If the vast collection of books and quaint ambience did not seal the deal immediately, impossible as that sounds, the rich and varied archive did. Little did I know that when I first entered through that wonderful red portal, the trajectory of my life would change entirely.
It would be correct to say that I have always had an interest in the eighteenth-century, alongside my undying love of rural England, but I had previously thought that my interest in English society would tend more towards the Victorians rather than the Georgians. Now, that position has completely reversed. For my undergraduate, which was an interdisciplinary degree combining English Literature and History, I decided to tackle my three biggest interests when writing my dissertation: Jane Austen and her world, sociability and gossip, and how novels can be used to study history. The Morrab Library, with its archive and special collections, was the primary way that I was able to turn fiction into reality, though perhaps one could say that fiction may come from reality. Through investigating their catalogue, I was able to travel back to Penzance of the 1790s and become a part of this wonderful town’s life in a unique and intimate way.
With Lisa’s help and guidance, I had the privilege of meeting Catharine Tremenheere, nee Borlase, and through her letters I attended balls at the Penzance Assembly Rooms in 1792 and 1793. I would describe her as a slightly more sensible version of the immortal Mrs Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, their minds seem to have been in a similar place though Mrs Tremenheere showed a bit more gentility than dear Mrs Bennet. Alongside Catharine Tremenheere’s letters, which are numerous and a treat to read, I used the 1791 Penzance Assembly Book, which recorded all the accounts and details of the social seasons from 1791-1794, to find out who her neighbours were and how often they saw each other. In addition to her records of balls and assemblies, Catharine Tremenheere also writes about dinner parties, visits to the theatre, and even about riots in Penzance around the time of the French Revolution.
Through her eyes, I saw just how vibrant the Georgians were and that the events in Jane Austen’s novels were not as unrealistic as one may have thought. That is the joy of researching the past and reading books, is it not? The drama and sensibility we find in novels, and think so silly as a result, may not be too far-fetched as we originally believed. Catharine Tremenheere records all sorts of novel-like happenings in Penzance society and in such an endearing way that by the time I reached the letter where her son Walter tells his brother Harry Pendarves that their mother is dead, I was near to tears. This intense journey, both intellectually and emotionally, would never have happened without the Morrab Library and its archive.
From all this foraying into Penzance’s past, in this fantastic setting which we all are a part of, my life has now taken a turn towards making the eighteenth-century its gravitational centre. Soon I shall begin a masters course in eighteenth-century studies to continue my research into the function of assembly rooms in rural society and, hopefully, turning that into a PhD once I complete the next step. All this stemmed from two deeply important sources: my love of Pride and Prejudice and the ability to see how the world Jane Austen wrote about still exists in delightfully large quantities all around us through the archive at the Morrab Library. Certainly, it has been a journey of love and passion through discovery and investigation.
The Trustees of Morrab Library are proposing a significant change in its governance arrangements which will be presented to members at an Extraordinary General Meeting on 13th November – we hope you will be able to attend. In tandem with this exercise, we are looking to appoint a number of people to strengthen the Board of Trustees.
Our priority is to find a new Treasurer. In recent years we have improved our financial systems and we seek someone with experience in finance to take over this essential role, to provide financial oversight and planning. Further information on this role is available here: The Morrab Library Treasurer
We are also seeking people with skills and attributes to complement other Trustees in the following areas:-
The Trustees meet monthly, either by Zoom or in person. Sub Committees are in place to support the Board – and working groups are occasionally formed for specific purposes.
More information about the Library and the current Trustees can be found here: https://morrablibrary.org.uk/trustee/
If you are interested in joining us, or if you know someone who might be, we should be delighted to hear. Please send a short CV (no more than two pages) together with a covering letter of application outlining what you can contribute and why you wish to serve as a Trustee.
Responses should be sent by email to secretary@morrablibrary.org.uk as soon as possible. If you would like an informal discussion with one of the Trustees before expressing an interest please write to the same email address with a brief summary of your relevant experience.
If you use social media and can share this information with your followers to help us expand the search please share the links you’ll find on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.
Harry Spry-Leverton, Chairman, on behalf of the Trustees of Morrab Library
We need to share some important news about car parking over the next few weeks. The Honorary Health and Safety Officer, on behalf of the Trustees, has arranged for the external building to be painted and redecorated over the summer. This means that scaffolding will be erected around the entire building for the duration of the works.
As typical of works involving scaffolding, we do not have an exact date for the work commencing, but we have been informed that the scaffolding could be put up as early as the 23rd of June, but more likely the week beginning the 26th of June. Until it is up, we won’t know how much of an impact it will have on access to all of our parking spaces. Some may be restricted for the entirety of the project, but we do not know as yet.
We do know for now that the painters have recommended that while they are refurbishing each side of building’s front that parking be avoided for that period, to reduce the risk of your car getting a new coat of paint! We know the work to paint commences from 3rd July, but we do not have any indication of how long it will take to finish each of these sections. We will provide updates as we find out more.
The work is estimated to take up to two months in total before the scaffolding is subsequently removed.
Ideally, it would be very helpful if you could avoid parking at the library entirely during this period if possible, so we can ensure those who need it the most can be guaranteed access.
But at the least, may we recommend throughout this period that you phone ahead if you need a car park to access the library and we can inform you of the state of play on the day you require it.
We’re sorry we can’t be more definitive at this stage, and we hope to have more of a steer as the work commences, but we wanted you to know in advance of potential limitations and inconvenience the works may cause.
So please get in touch with any queries, and we will do our best to accommodate and support your visit. At the end of this, the library will be looking beautiful and refreshed! Thank you for your support, as always.
Best wishes from the library team and Trustees.
Library member and PhD student, Kensa Broadhurst, has delved into the world of early Cornish Fiction, and uncovered some delights you may wish to explore yourself….
Over the past year I have been working my way steadily through the Cornish fiction collection in the Jenner room. I should perhaps clarify this a little. I am currently in the final stages of a PhD researching the use of the Cornish language between 1777-1904. As part of this research, I was interested to see if any of the novels written in or about Cornwall pre-1904 either mention the language or use Cornish words. This meant I was interested in reading any of the novels in the collection with a publication date before around 1910. There are some novels in the collection with no publication date in them. To be on the safe side, I did borrow these. Often it was easy to tell if the novel must have been written later in the twentieth century through the context.
These criteria meant I could avoid the shelves full of the works of Daphne du Maurier and Winston Graham, but it has still taken me the best part of year to work my way through the relevant books from the collection alongside my other studies. This may give you some idea as to the size of the Cornish fiction collection housed in the library (I’m a quick reader!). Although there are novels by authors who had been inspired by a visit they had made to Cornwall, many of the books are by Cornish authors and are specifically based in West Penwith.
Unsurprisingly for novels set in West Penwith either in the nineteenth century or earlier, several themes emerge: Methodism, mining, smuggling and wrecking feature heavily, alongside many tales of unrequited love and quite a few mining accidents. For people interested in the social history of Cornwall in the nineteenth century, these novels are a real treasure trove. There are also several novels which detail the adventures of young girls who are shipwrecked on the Cornish coast, rescued, and grow up unaware of their true identity, only for everything to be resolved perfectly at the end with a hugely coincidental reveal! A couple of examples of these include Mona the Fisher Girl by H.S. Streatfeild and Beatrice of St Mawse [no named author].
There are novels by well-known novelists such as Deep Down by R.M. Ballantyne, the Scottish author best remembered for The Coral Island. He came to Cornwall to research tin mining for this novel. There are also many novels by the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould from Devon. He was well-known as a writer of hymns and served as President of the Royal Institution of Cornwall. Examples of his novels include Guavas the Tinner and The Crock of Gold. Famous Cornish novelists such as Katharine Lee, the Hocking siblings, and William Sandys also feature prominently.
So would I recommend a delve into nineteenth century Cornish fiction as a change from your usual reading fare? There are some gems to be discovered. If you like an adventure story filled with derring-do try Queen of the Guarded Mounts by John Oxenham which is set on St Michael’s Mount and Mont-Saint-Michel during the French Revolution. If you want a bit of romance in the Cornish landscape, there’s Kynance Cove by William Bentinck Forfar. For some insight into life in Cornwall at this period see E.A. Bonham’s A Corner of Old Cornwall or Mrs Havelock Ellis’s My Cornish Neighbours. Or perhaps just show some neglected books some love – in many cases I was evidently the only person who had borrowed these novels for decades!