Sometimes borrowers will return a library book a bit late but a couple of days — or weeks or months — is nothing compared to how long it took to get “An Elementary Treatise on Electricity” back to its home.
More than 119 years after it was checked out of the New Bedford Free Public Library, the book is back in Massachusetts, The Associated Press reported.
Stewart Plein, the curator of rare books at West Virginia University Libraries, was going through a donation of books and found it. When he looked at it, the book didn’t have withdrawn stamped on it. He also saw the book came from the New Bedford library, so he got in touch with the special collections librarian.
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“This came back in extremely good condition,” New Bedford Public Library Director Olivia Melo said, according to the AP. “Someone obviously kept this on a nice bookshelf because it was in such good shape and probably got passed down in the family.”
This isn’t the first time the New Bedford library had a book returned really late, but normally it’s only 10 to 15 years overdue.
As for the overdue fee, the library’s highest fee is $2, but if they had totaled the fine for the 119 years past due, the 5-cent-per-day fee would total more than $2,100, the AP reported.
