The book was returned to the library in the seaside town of Kiama last week by local resident Ross Simmons, who found it during recent home renovations inside a tea crate that had been bricked into a sealed fireplace, Kiama Library manager Michelle Hudson said.
“We’ve never had anything that old come back to us,” Hudson said on Thursday.
“I follow lots of libraries on social media and often you’ll get things that are maybe 30 or 40 years overdue when people are cleaning out estates and things like that,” she added.
Ross Simmons, told The Associated Press on Friday he assumed the book was borrowed by his great-great-grandfather John Simmons, who had owned the house where it was found.
“I’m making an assumption. He was living in the cottage around that time, and his children were probably too young,” Ross Simmons said.
The library opened in 1872, and the book, Antiquities of Athens, published in 1858, was marked as No. 506 in the library’s original collection of around 1,000 books. Hudson suspects the book was lost within a few years of the library opening.
The late return fine would amount to around 28,000 Australian dollars ($19,500), after adjusting for inflation, Hudson said. The figure was calculated based on the British three-pence-per-week overdue fee printed on the book’s inside cover, along with a list of rules that applied when the library opened.
But Hudson said the library’s records of borrowers in the 1870s had been lost.
“Unfortunately, we have a missing link. There’s nothing in the book that tells us who the last borrower was,” she said.
Library rules in the 1870s required borrowers to return a book and clear any overdue fines before borrowing another.
“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 behavior impacts others, but the rules are not specific about intoxication.
Ross Simmons said he had no idea why his English immigrant ancestor, who had also served as an alderman in Kiama’s municipal government, would not have returned the book.
He said he hadn’t been concerned by the prosect of being held liable by an angry librarian for his family’s debt.
“I’ve spent a lifetime dealing with irate customers and being irate with customers himself. Just stick to your guns and say do your worst,” the 77-year-old said.
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.