I can help with all resources marked , copyright permitting.

The first three parts are a selection of books with a specific focus on West Penwith, now considerably expanded with help from James Downing [thanks]. Many of these can be found in Cornwall libraries under class number 942.375, see the Online Public Access Catalogue. The remaining two parts are a selection of books with a General Cornwall content but with a bias towards those of interest to the West Penwith researcher. Bill Trenwith has compiled an online surname index [Link Broken 2018] of some of these books which I have marked with .

See also Maps, Gazetteers, Trade Directories, Archive CD Books, CFHS, CFS, and Cornwall-Legacy publications.

I do not sell books! The small prices at the end of some listings are there as a guide only. In an effort to improve my library (at modest cost) I am interested in obtaining copies of books marked . Please contact me with details if you have these on offer.

• Acton, Bob. Landfall walks. Currently 14 volumes of walks, each covering a variety of places in Cornwall. No. 12. A view from Trencrom (Hayle, St. Ives and Penzance—1992 revised 1997). No. 13. A view from Carn Galver. (between St. Ives and St. Just—1993) Landfall, Devoran: various. £4 to £5 each
• Adams, J.B. The ancient parish of Madron; Triton Press, Penzance: 1973 Pamphlet village history with tipped in prints.
• Aitken, C. A short account of Paul Church; Newlyn Press: 1910. £8
• Aitken, Rosemary. Cornish Harvest; A novel set in Penzance during WW1.
• Badcock, W. Historical sketch of St. Ives & district; The author, St. Ives: 1896. £40 The text from this book has been transcribed and is online on this site
• Baker, Mary. Primrose time; Landfall, Devoran: 1993 Life as a girl in Lelant.
• Ballantyne, R.M. Deep down, A tale of the Cornish mines; 1884 A novel by the author of Coral Island set in C19^th St. Just.
• Barber, John T. Poems of old St. Ives; 1956.
• Barton, D.B. A guide to the mines of West Cornwall; D. Bradford Barton, Truro: 1963.
• ———Cousin Jack, ashore and afloat;
• Batten, Benjamin Green. Newlyn towners, fishermen and Methodists: 1800–1978, an outline history; 1978.
• ———Newlyn, Penzance and the Pirates, an illustrated rugby history; Penzance and Newlyn Rugby Football Club, Penzance: 1978. ISBN 0 9506301 0 1.
• ———Newlyn heritage; 1980.
• ———Old Newlyn speech; 1984. ISBN 0 9509919 0 2.
• ———Walk Newlyn with me; The Author: 1984
• ———School on the hill: Paul School Board A.D. 1879—Newlyn Infant’s School 1979; The author, Newlyn.
• ———Newlyn boyhood.
• ——— & James, Lawrence. Three score years and ten—A history of The Penzance County School and The Humphry Davy Grammar School 1910–1980; The Old Boys Association: c1981 2 editions, the second with corrections and extra material.
• Batten, Henry & Viner, Henry William. Responses, sufferages, tersanctus and chants as used in the church of St. Paul, Penzance; Viner's Musical Repository, Penzance: 1844 Batten was the minister and Viner, the organist. The sufferages were composed by E. Shuttleworth.
• Beckerlegge, John J. Two hundred years of Methodism in Mousehole; Church trustees: 1954.
• Beare [pub.]. Gulval the church and churchyard; Beare & Son, Penzance: 1894.
• Besley, Henry [pub.]. The handbook of Western Cornwall, Penzance, Falmouth and Neighbourhoods; St. Michael’s Mount, The Land’s End, The Logan Stone; etc.; Henry Besley, Exeter: undated c1870? Extracted from The route book of Cornwall.£50
• Bicknell, Ethel E. St. Ives, Cornwall with its surroundings; Homeland: 1910 & 1918. The 1910 edition is available in facsimile on CD-ROM from Belerion Books, Florida:2002.
• Bird, Sheila. Penzance and Newlyn; Phillimore, Chichester: 1987. ISBN 0 85033 6333,
• Blight, J. T. Ancient crosses & other antiquities in the west of Cornwall; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., London and F. T. Vibert, Penzance: 1856. Published in facsimile combined with the volume about the east of Cornwall and an introduction by Ian McNeil Cooke Men-an-Tol Studio [link broken 2018], Penzance: 2004 ISBN 1-902793-02-1
• ———List of antiquities in the hundreds of Kirrier & Penwith, West Cornwall; Truro, 1862.
• ———A week at the Land’s End; Peter Dalwood, Truro: 1861. £46 2^nd. ed. :1876 (Reprinted Alison Hodge, Penzance: 1973. ISBN 0906720206 £12)
• ———Churches of West Cornwall—with notes of antiquities of the district; Parker & Co., London:1865. £30 Available in facsimile on CD-ROM from Belerion Books, Florida:2002. The material was originally published in the Gentleman’s Magazine, 1862–64 The relevant parish material has been transcribed and can be found via the relevant parish pages. The notes on antiquities are also available on this site.
• Boase, Charles William. An account of the families of Boase or Bowes; The author: 1893. Paul & Madron
• Boase, George Clement. Reminiscences of Penzance; Penzance Old Cornwall Society & Headland, Penzance: 1976. Originally published in the Cornishman newspaper 25 Oct 1883–28 May 1884 under the pseudonym "Native". The book has an introduction and corrections by P. A. S. Pool.
• Bolitho, Emily Borlase. Letters and reminiscences of Emily Borlase Bolitho; Beare & Son, Penzance: 1889.
• Bolitho, T.G.G. The origin of the name Bolitho; The author, Paris: 1928 Complete rubbish.
• Borlase, William C. et. al. The official guide to Penzance; Beare & Son, Penzance: 1876. £32 Contains two maps, one of W. Penwith and a town street map. First edition with green boards, 2nd edition 1890 with blue boards.
• Bottrell, William [Biography]. Stories and Traditions of West Penwith; J. A. D. Bridger, Penzance: no date. £22
• ———& Blight, Joseph. Traditions and hearthside stories of West Cornwall (two volumes); Beare & Son, Penzance: 1870 £75 & 1873. £40 Vol 1 Republished by Frank Graham, Newcastle upon Tyne: 1970. ISBN 900409 56 8. £10 also Republished by Llanerch: 1989 ISBN 0947992286. £8 The third volume in the series is the book below.
• ———Stories and folklore of West Cornwall; Penzance: 1880. £52
• Bowcott, E. C. The Penlee lifeboat disaster; Wheel & Deal: 1982. ISBN 0-907622-03-8.
• Bowles, Charles. Short account of the hundred of Penwith; Shaftsbury: 1805.
• Bray, Lena & Donald. St. Ives Heritage: Recollections and records of St. Ives, Carbis Bay and Lelant; Landfall, Devoran: 1981 revised 1992. £6
• Breton, Rev. H. Hugh. Land’s End and the Lizard; Hoyton & Cole, Plymouth: 1912. £16
• Brewer, Paul & Thompson, Gillian. A brief history of West Penwith with maps; The authors, Grampound: 1997. ISBN 0 9527927 2 9. Brief details of the southern parishes of the peninsular.
• ———A brief history of East Penwith with maps; The authors, Grampound: 1997. Brief details of the northern and eastern parishes of the peninsular.
• Bridger, John Pendarves. The Cornish pilchard and its industry; Fisheries Laboratory, Lowestoft: 1965 Leaflet: New series, No. 9. Includes much on West Penwith fisheries.
• Brown, Kenneth & Acton, Bob. Exploring Cornish mines; Five volumes cover a wide variety each of surface walking and driving tours. V1 includes Botallack, Bosweden & Wheal Kitty, V2 includes Ding-Dong & Tincroft, V3 includes Levant & Geevor, V5 includes St. Ives Consols, St. Just United & Cape Cornwall.Landfall, Devoran: various. £8 each
• Buckley, J. A. Tudor Tin Bounds—West Penwith; Dyllansow Truran, Redruth: 1987. ISBN 1 85022 028 X
• ——— Geevor Mine; Geevor, Pendeen: 1989. ISBN 0-9515182-0-8.
• ———, Wills, D., Riekstins, K. Geevor Mine Underground; Penhellick: 1996. ISBN 1 871678 21 8.
• Buller, Rev. John. St. Just in Penwith—a statistical account. R. D. Rodda, Penzance: 1842. £125 (Facsimile reprint Dyllansow Truran: 1983. ISBN 0-907566-61-8)
• Burr, Jeffery C. A history of the Church of St. Levan; Patten Press, Penzance: 1994. ISBN 1 872229 35 2. Includes “St. Levan, its registers, its clergy & its worthies” by J. Hambley Rowe, 1934. and an insert: “Amendment and Variation” by Jeffery Burr, 1997. £5 new.
• Burt, Andrew. The parish church of Saint Just in Penwith, Cornwall—Eglos, Lanuste, Kernow; Boleigh Press, Essex: 2003 Two editions, a full but limited edition and a shorter version for sale in the church.
• C. P.J. The story of the parish church of St. Uny Lelant; Tempest Family, Lelant: 1981. Published in memory of Horace Tempest. Pamphlet with good photographs.
• Caddick, Arthur. One hundred doors are open—An illustrated guide to one hundred inns mainly in West Cornwall; The author, Nancledra: 1956–58? A very personal guide to the local taverns. This was a annual publication (for a while anyway) and mine is the second edition, but I don't know how different they are.
• Cadman, Rev. R. H. Paul parish church, a short history; Paul PCC: 1969.
• ——— and Corin, John. St. Pol de Leon: A history of Paul parish; Paul PCC: 1982.
• Caple, Samuel Canynge. Saint Ives scrapbook; : 1961.
• Cardew, Alexander. A memoir of the Revd. Cornelius Cardew; Netherton & Worth, Truro: 1926. Vicar of Lelant
• Carr, Rex. A short history of St. Erbyn’s School, Penzance; The author, Penzance; 1972. £7
• Carter, Clive. The Port of Penzance; Black Dwarf, Lydney, Gloucestershire: 1998. ISBN 0 9533028 0 6.
• ——— and Golowan Community Arts. The Penzance town trail, an illustrated guide book; Penzance Town Council: 2001.
• Catling R.M. and Rogers, J.P. G.H. Doble, a memoir and bibliography; The Authors?, Exeter?: undated.
• Channon, Joyce. The St. Ives Weekly Summary 1889-1910; St. Ives Printing and Publishing Company, St. Ives: 1987, ISBN 0 948385 07 3. Newspaper extracts.
• Charles, Reynolds & Co. [Pub.]. The album of Penzance views; Charles, Reynolds, London: undated [1890s?]. A folding album of retouched photographs from a large series.
• Cleaver, D. History of Porthcurno; 1953.
• Cobb, James F. Watchers on the Longships: A tale of Cornwall in the last century; Wells Gardner Darton, London: 1876 A story, reputedly based on fact, about the Longships Lighthouse, is dedicated to Rev. J. Sidney Tyacke, once Rector of St. Levan.
• Cock, Stanley (Ed.). St. Ives museum; The Museum:c1995
• Colbeck, Alfred. Methodist Union with special reference to St. Ives; The Western Echo, St. Ives: c1930s. Reprinted from The Western Echo newspaper.
• Cole, Richard. Brea Downs to Dowran Common, St. Just, Cornwall: archaeological watching brief; Cornwall Archaeological Unit, Truro: 2001. For MK International.
• Collins, E. C. Trewellard Methodist Church, 1833–1983: To commemorate the building’s 150’th anniversary; The Church, St. Just: 1983.
• Cooke, Ian McNeil. How to get there without a car. Guides to Men-an-Tol, Merry Maidens, Carn Euny, Tinners Way; Men-an-Tol Studio [link broken 2018], Penzance: 1990s Series of walking guides.
• ——— Crosses and churchway paths in the Land’s End Peninsula, West Cornwall; 8 volumes. 1—St. Just in Penwith, 2—Sennen & St. Levan, 3—St. Buryan, 4—Paul & Sancreed, 5—Madron & Morvah, 6—Gulval & Ludgvan, 7—Lelant, St. Ives & Towednack, 8—Zennor and Conclusion. Volume 1 has gone to a second edition without the OS maps for copyright reasons, but it doesn't detract much from an excellent series. Men-an-Tol Studio [link broken 2018], Penzance: 2000–04
• Corin, John. Sennen Cove and its lifeboat; RNLI, Penzance: 1985 ISBN 0-9510205-0-1.£5
• ——— Levant—a champion Cornish mine; The Trevithick Society:1992 ISBN 0 904040 37 2.£6
• Cornwall Archeological Unit. St. Just—an archeological survey of the mining district; Cornwall Archeological Unit: 1992 2 volumes ISBN 1 871162 27 0
• Cornish, John Batten. The names of the Penzance streets; : 1893.
• ——— Mate’s illustrated Penzance, a pictorial and descriptive souvenir, the corporation official guide; W. Mate & Sons, Bournmouth: 1902 Presumably published several times.
• Cotton, William. Illustrations of stone circles, cromlehs and other remains of the aboriginal Britons in the west of Cornwall; James Moyes, London: 1827 The original is very rare, only 25 copies being produced. Republished by Men-an-Tol Studio [link broken 2018], Penzance: 1998 ISBN 0 9512371 8 7
• Courtney, John Sampson. A guide to Penzance and its neighbourhood; E Rowe, Penzance: 1845. £120
• Courtney, Louise. Half a Century of Penzance (1825–1875)—from notes by J. S. Courtney; Beare & Son, Penzance: 1878. £48 Republished by Peter Dalwood, Penzance: 1972 £6 and Oakmagic: c1999 (much inferior) ISBN 1901163083. £4 new. This book has been transcribed and is online on this site
• Courtney, M. A. Cornish feasts and folk-lore: revised and reprinted from the folk-lore society journals, 1886-87; Beare & Son, Penzance: 1890.
• Courtney, R. A. A passel of ould traade being sundry papers read at meetings of the Penzance Natural History and Antiquarian Society; Penzance: 1909
• Cox, David. Madron Parish Church, the ancient parish church of Penzance; Madron Church: 1960s. Pamphlet guide.
• Crofts, C. B. A short history of St. Buryan; West Cornwall Field Club, Camborne:1955. £15 Also an updated edition with Richard Legg; St. Buryan PCC: 1991
• Culver, John. St. Uny, fact or fiction; 2003 A booklet about the history of the church based on a talk by Jim White.
• Curnow, Anne & Howard (Eds). Cornish dialect stories of old St. Just; St. Just Methodist Church: c1996.
• Davison, C. Raffles & Sedding, John D. Down to the Land’s End; The British Architect, London: 16 Dec 1887. £28 Drawings by Davison, article by Sedding entitled “A Ramble in West Cornwall.”
• Davies-Freme, Rev. E. T. A Short Description of St. Uny, Lelant; 1951 (or 1947). Leaflet. Available online at Tom & Jana Robertson’s site. [link broken] in the Related Files section towards the bottom.
• Demuth, Averil. The Minack open air theatre. Newton Abbot: 1968. £11
• Dearlove, Jenny. Women to the Rescue (A Penzance Refuge for Girls in Trouble). Hypatia Trust: 2021 ISBN 978-1-872229-76-8.
• Doble, Gilbert Hunter. St. Selevan; Shipston-on-Stour: 1938. £8 St. Levan
• ———Lananta: A history of the church and parish of Saint Euny, Lelant; King’s Stone press, Shipston-on-Stour: 1939. £10
• ———Old Penzance and St. Mary’s chapel; Shipston-on-Stour: 1943. £8
• ——— & Henderson, Charles. St. Ives: Its patron saint and its church; James Lanham, St. Ives: 1939.
• ———Saint Paul of Leon, with a history of the parish of Paul; Lampeter?: 1941. £16
• Driver, Messrs. Tregenna Castle and Estate, sale particulars; Messrs. Driver, London: 1871. Abstract.
• Dudley, Dorothy. An excavation at Bodrifty, Mulfra Hill, near Penzance, Cornwall; Journal of the Royal Archaeological Institute 113: 1956. £7
• Duff, Rutherford D [pub.]. The Gilbert Estate, sale particulars; Rutherford D. Duff, Penzance: 1922. Abstract.
• Dundrow, Michael, Dundrow, Margaret & Jenkin, Ann. Madron’s Story; Bossiney, Launceston: 2001. ISBN 1-899383-48-4.
• Edmonds, Richard. A statistical account of the parish of Madron, containing the borough of Penzance; : 1839.
• ———The Land’s End district, its antiquities, natural history, natural phenomena & scenery; J. Russell Smith, London: 1862 Also a brief Memoir of Richard Trevithick. £95