Better late than never: book back in library after 119 years At least 22 civilians killed in air raid in Sudan

The scholarly work An Elementary Treatise on Electricity was borrowed from a library on Feb. 14, 1904 — and has only now been returned, according to the Associated Press (AP) news agency. The New Bedford Free Public Library in Massachusetts, USA, had to wait 119 years for the book.

Book was accidentally discovered after 119 years

The library owes the return of the work to a happy coincidence. Stewart Plein, curator of rare books at West Virginia University Libraries, received a book donation and discovered the ancient book.

He noted that the paper was part of the collection of the New Bedford Library and was not stamped “withdrawn”. This indicated that while the book was many years overdue, it had also not been removed from the library collection. Plein therefore turned to the library and gave the old book to the staff.

119 year old book in “extremely good condition”

The library’s director, Olivia Melo, was delighted with the work’s return: “The book came back in very good condition,” she told the AP. “Someone obviously kept this on a nice bookshelf because it was in such good condition and probably passed down the family.” The book first appeared in 1881, but the recovered copy is not a rare edition, explains Melo.

Incidentally, according to Melo, 119 years of loan time is a record: books that are 10 or 15 years overdue are sometimes returned, but more than 100 years have not yet passed. The library now charges a fee of five cents per day – for 119 years that would amount to almost 1,780 euros. However, the maximum late payment fee is two US dollars. (t-online, sms)