Library

Museum library specialized in maritime culture and history, open to everyone. We give you access to over 28,000 volumes, some 150 publications and 250 ship blueprints. Among these materials, we should note our reserve books, edited before 1900: treatises on navigation, naval agriculture, sailing directions, books of the Consulate of the Sea, Regulations of the Armada and classic texts from the maritime history of our country.

Subjects: The books in the library refer to the sea, its surroundings, the activities it generates (sailing, fishing, naval construction, nautical sports) and the historical relationship between men and the sea (maritime commerce, seafarers, merchant marine, naval history, etc.).

Contact Info

Opening hours:
Monday – Friday

Appointments always needed
+34 93 342 99 20
+34 673 08 30 62
informacio@mmb.cat

Biblioteca MMB

Pere de Prada i Arana

CATALOGUE
Biblioteca MMB

Pere de Prada i Arana

NEWS

Summary of publications

 

Periodical publications are a very important source within the Library. These specialized publications contain articles that cannot be found in books, and as a result the library catalogue includes a large number of articles from publications. Each week, new issues of publications arrive. We display the most recent issue on our magazine stand, and we update the information in the library catalogue on which issues of each publication we have received.

 

We would like to take full advantage of these sources of information, so we regularly prepare content summaries for each of the publications we receive and make them available to you.
We encourage you to take a look at them. If you see an article that interests you, feel free to ask us for it.

Summary of publications

Subject guides

To help our users take full advantage of the Library’s collections, we prepare guides that include all the bibliography available at the MMB Library on a certain topic. We also include resources that can be accessed over the Internet.

If you visit the Library, you can take a copy of any guides that interest you. Most are also accessible online and can be downloaded, such as:

 

Working conditions of maritime men
Women and the sea
Longshoremen and cargo
Lighthouses
The Spanish Civil War at sea
Sea legends and monsters
Narcís Monturiol
Shipwrecks
Maritime painting
Slave ships
Titanic
School ships

 

You can also access the full text of the Marine Registry, where you can find information on tall ships registered in Barcelona, grouped by type of ship. At the end of each document, you will find an index with ship names.

Reading club


The MMB Library Reading Club is an open group of individuals interested in reading and discussing maritime literature.

The library organizes five sessions per year (October, November, January, March and May).

Below are the reading reports we have prepared for each session, in order from newest to oldest.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

What is the Library of the Maritime Museum?
It is a specialized museum library, which means that it has multiple facets:
Heritage: it contains a rich collection of older books that can be considered museum pieces.
Education: it is a centre open to research and learning.
Cultural: it promotes maritime culture.
Recreational: museum visitors often visit the library as a space for leisure.

Specialized?
Our library is specialized in maritime and naval history, maritime commerce, the merchant marine and the navy, ports, the historical evolution of all manner of vessels, cartography, piracy, shipwrecks and maritime rescue, maritime art (maritime painting, photography and literature). As a museum library, we also have books on museology and from maritime museums around the world.

What are the opening hours of the Photographic Archive, the Documentary Historical Archive, the Maps and Ships Archive and the Map Library?
These have the same opening hours as the Library. These materials can also be viewed in the afternoon by appointment.

How can I know if you have a book, publication, a DVD or any other document at the Library?
By consulting the Library catalogue.

I have maritime books; can I make a donation?
Contact us on informacio@mmb.cat

How can I find out about new acquisitions at the Library?
By visiting our Catalogue, since new acquisitions appear at the top of the page.
By subscribing to the Catalogue by clicking on the orange square.
By looking at the right-hand column of the weblog, at the “New” section.
You can find out what new publications have arrived by viewing our Summaries.
Through the Library Pinterest

View the different articles where we mention our services.

Do you have passenger lists?
The MMB has two passenger lists:
1.- Bulletin of the Compañía Trasatlántica of Barcelona 1892-1894 Vapor Habana. Mediterranean-New York-Havana, 02/10/1946.
2.- Ledger of passenger fees. Going and returning. Veracruz-Bilbao, Bilbao-Veracruz, January-August 1936.

We recommend that you view the resources compiled by Movimientos Migratorios Iberoamericanos.

Can I access the Library at other times?
Yes. You need to set up an appointment with Library staff.

What can I do if I don’t find what I’m looking for?
You can send us a message with your query at informacio@mmb.cat