Book overdue by 150 years resurfaces in NSW library

A NSW public library has had a book returned an estimated 150 years late and has no way of tracking down the errant borrower, a librarian says.

The book Antiquities of Athens, published in 1858, was returned to the library in the seaside town of Kiama last week by a man who had found it during recent home renovations inside a tea crate bricked into a sealed fireplace, Kiama Library manager Michelle Hudson said.

“We’ve never had anything that old come back to us,” she said on Thursday.

“I follow lots of libraries on social media and often you’ll get things that are maybe 30 or 40 years old when they’re cleaning out estates and stuff like that,” she added.

The book’s finder did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’s request for comment.

The late return fine would be $28,000, allowing for inflation, Hudson said. 

That was calculated on the British three-pence-a-week overdue fee that was printed on the inside cover of the book, along with a list of rules that applied when the library opened in 1872.

But Hudson said there was no way of tracing the final borrower who had accrued the debt. The library journal from the 1870s that recorded who borrowed a book and when had been lost.

“Unfortunately, we have a missing link. There’s nothing in the book that tells us who the last borrower was,” Hudson said.

Library rules in the 1870s stated that a book had to be returned and an overdue debt paid before another book could be borrowed.

“Maybe that’s why they never returned it to us,” Hudson said.

Antiquated rules of the day included that up to three books could be borrowed by households in which at least six members were “known to be able to read”. Proof of reading ability is no longer required to use today’s library.

In the 1870s, books were not lent to people who arrived at the library in a “state of intoxication”.

Library users are now asked to leave if their behaviour impacts others, but the rules are not specific about intoxication.

The book, which has some water damage from its years under a chimney, was marked as No.506 in the library’s original collection of about 1000 books, Hudson said.

She expects the book was lost within a few years of the library opening.

The returned book will be displayed in the library’s local history collection.

“We’re not going to allow it to go back out again. We don’t want to wait another 150 years for this book to be returned,” Hudson said.