Library Christmas Hours
The Morrab Library will close for the Christmas holidays at 4pm on Saturday 20th December. We will reopen again in the new year at 10am on Friday 2nd January. Please make sure to pop in to the library soon if you want to amass a pile of holiday reading to get you through the festive season, or to do some last-minute Christmas shopping!
Become a Friend of The Morrab Library
The Library has recently launched The Friends of The Morrab Library scheme, as a focused fundraising initiative. This is a heartfelt appeal to our valued membership – more than 900 strong – to consider becoming a Friend by setting up a regular donation by direct debit. Find out more HERE.
Search our online book catalogue
Our Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) via KOHA is now live and running, and you can now search for more than 12,000 of the library’s book titles online. Click here to find out more and start searching.
About us
Join
Events
A rich resource for research, or a place to borrow the latest novel.
The 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. The Morrab Library is a registered charity and depends on the support and generosity of our library community.
We are open Tuesday – Saturday 10am-4pm.
If you would like to support the work of The Morrab Library you can donate by clicking the button below.
Latest news
My Family and Other Animals – Meet our new artists-in-residence
September will see us welcome artists Philip Riley and Nadia Peters to the library, where they will explore the library’s relationship with nature, taking inspiration from our historic book collection. Philip and Nadia work collaboratively with mixed media, inspired...
Welcoming Madeleine…
Welcoming Madeleine… The library recently welcomed Edinburgh University student Madeleine Wren for a week of work experience, where she hoped to learn about the work we do here, as well as offer her skills and assistance to us. Madeleine spent time with our various...
Bee Day at The Morrab Library
On Wednesday 28th August, we will be celebrating all things bees with the West Penwith Embroidered Bees Project and Bumblebee Conservation Trust. Last year, Vicks Harrison got in touch with the Library to tell us about the West Penwith Embroidered Bees Project that...
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.
If you like books, if you like history, if you like beautiful houses, if you like hidden treasures, if you like people, if you like peace, you will LOVE Morrab. In fact, if you are alive, you will love it there.
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.