We’ve all checked out books from the library at one point in time or another. Many of us have returned one or more of these books late and had to pay a late fee. Imagine having a book that is almost 100 years late. The St. Helena Public Library faced this issue when a the book ” A History of the United States, by Benson Lossing was returned to them by an unknown person.
The book was loaned out and had a return date of February 21st, 1927. If you had to look at that date twice, yes you read it right! Imagine having a book for that long just sitting around, would you eventually take it back?
Video Source – TopShot News
The Overdue Book
The man who returned the book didn’t share any details about himself or where he actually got the book at. He didn’t owe the library and hasn’t even used checked anything out since 2019. If the man had to pay for the fine, the fine would have cost him almost $2,000 dollars. That’s a lot of money to pay for a book that someone else forgot to turn in.
Inside, the library’s original note remains intact, saying: “This book may be kept for two weeks” and “injuries to books, and to books lost, must be paid for”.
The library is hoping to track down the man and find out more about the story. They are hoping to see if they can get some history behind the check out and why it took so long and what prompted him to bring it back after 96 years.
The staff is trying to figure out how to display the book without getting damaged any further. The staff believes the book is one of 540 volumes available when the public library first opened in 1892.
