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.
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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
A remarkable discovery in our Archive collection
In the midst of lockdown over 2020 and 2021, Morrab Library was contacted by Alison Shell, Professor of Early Modern Studies at University College London. She had come across a brief citation to an item in our Archive collection, created by the late John Simmonds,...
Reflections from COP26
Alison Meaton is a Penwith resident, a retired primary school teacher, a Quaker and part of Extinction Rebellion West Cornwall. She is also a new member of Morrab Library. In late October 2021 she travelled up to Glasgow for COP26 to be part of the surge of people...
Our House – the story of Morrab House 1841 – 1900.
Among the many fascinating items displayed inside the Morrab Library is a bill of sale dated 1887, detailing the accommodation offered at Morrab House. Some of the rooms and stairways are easy to identify, some not, and there seems to have been a certain amount of...
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.