An overdue book has been returned to a library – 50 years after it was taken out.
Leaves of Grass – a collection of poems written by American poet Walt Whitman – was scheduled for return on 3 June 1974.
But it has only just made it back.
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The library, in Hopewell, Virginia, US, shared a post of the return on Sunday, 25 August, commenting: “We got an exciting return yesterday!!!
“Checked out in 1974, the year our three libraries joined up to become the Appomattox Regional Library System, this book has been returned after 50 years!
“Since we went fine-free last summer there’s no charge for overdue books, even when it’s been decades.”
Ashley commented: “I love that!”
Robbie added: “That’s a beautiful edition, too!”
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This edition is from May 1968, but when it was first published, in 1855, the book was considered controversial as the poems contained sexual references as well as mentions of same-sex relationships, as reported by What’s The Jam.
But this isn’t the only book to go ‘missing’ from a library for decades.
The Refugees by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, best known for creating Sherlock Holmes, was due back at Helsinki Central Library, Finland, on 26 December 1939.
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It turned up 84 years later.
Librarian Heini Strand said: “Always better late than never.”
She said it was unclear why the translated book remained absent for over 80 years, suggesting it could be down to the Winter War – when Finland was invaded by the Soviet Union – breaking out one month before its scheduled return.
She added: “The return of the book might not have been the first thing on the borrower’s mind when the due date approached.
“Usually these kinds of loans, returned decades after the due date, are found when people go through deceased relatives’ belongings.”
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