Scotland: Borrowed book back in the library after 70 years

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Return by post: the book with a letter from a bereaved, borrowed more than 73 years ago

Photo: Onfife / dpa

It took a while, but now the adventure novel "Stately Timber" by US author and director Rupert Hughes (1872-1956) is back on the shelf of the library from which it was once borrowed.

Last week, the long-missing copy was mailed to the library in Dunfermline, Scotland, around eleven kilometers north of Edinburgh.

More than 70 years have passed since the loan.

According to the PA news agency, the book should have been returned on November 6, 1948.

"Just for fun, we worked out how much the late fees would be and we ended up with an astonishing £ 2,847," said library assistant Donna Dewar.

That is the equivalent of more than 3380 euros.

The library had waived all outstanding fees during the pandemic to encourage people to bring back their overdue books.

The daughter of the original borrower, who had returned the novel, wrote in an enclosed letter that she was fascinated by when and how often the book was borrowed.

The Second World War came to an end between two stamps in the library.

"Life just goes on between monumental historical events," she wrote.

The daughter could not say whether her father had simply forgotten to return the book or had made a conscious decision to keep it.

The record for the most overdue book is 288 years

The author of the over 600-page work from 1939 can be described as busy: Rupert Hughes, born in Missouri, USA in 1872, was an officer, composer, screenwriter and director; he wrote essays, short stories, plays and a three-volume biography about George Washington.

He was also a declared anti-communist.

Great Britain holds the record for the longest overdue book in the world: a copy from the University Library in Cambridge was loaned to the Guinness Book of Records in 1668 and returned 288 years later.

ala / dpa