An 83-year-old man has returned a book to the library of his former university after 64 years.
The Beatles hadn’t even recorded their first album when student Robert Murray checked out the book.
He borrowed a 1931 edition of ‘Camping and Woodcraft: Handbook for Vacation Campers and for Travelers in the Wilderness’ by Horace Kephart.
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He checked out the book from the library at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, on 10 May 1960.
After holding onto the tome for nearly 65 years, the former graduate posted it to the library with a letter and a cheque for £54 (CAD 100).
University librarian, Susan Parker, said: “Most people return overdue books surreptitiously or anonymously.
“I’ve never received one this long overdue.
“Although he returned it six decades late, he was an ideal library book caretaker.
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“I’ve seen books deteriorated more that were loaned out for much shorter periods of time.
“And I even found a book where they had clearly used a piece of bacon as a bookmark.”
Murray, now 83 years old, apparently made good use of the book over the decades.
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He said: “I determined that this book was a treasure.
“A light year ahead of anything published on the subject at the time I borrowed it, and it has remained so over anything I’ve seen published since.”
His package also included a newspaper clipping from 2013 about an edition of the same book being returned to the Prince George’s Public Library over 30 years overdue.
Parker said the book was removed from the library’s system many years ago, but she plans to use Murray’s donation to cover other outstanding library fines, as reported by What’s The Jam.
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