Book returned to Boise Public Library 111 years after its due date, in near-perfect condition
A library book due in 1911 showed up at the Boise Public Library in Idaho earlier this month, 111 years past its return date. Now the mystery of its disappearance has been replaced with the mystery of its whereabouts all this time.
When the book, “New Chronicles of Rebecca” – a sequel to “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,” both by Kate Wiggin – appeared at the Boise Public Library earlier this month, staffers were flummoxed. Published in 1907, it had last been checked out on Nov. 8, 1911. It was in perfect condition, to boot.
“We all went, ‘Hmm that’s weird,” library assistant Anne Marie Martin told KIVI-TV. “There is no record of this in our catalog. It says November 8 of 1911, so obviously, it was pretty overdue.”
The fine, had there been one, could have been as high as $803 given the rate of 2 cents per day for 111 years, the library said in a Facebook post. As it was, the fine would have been capped at the book’s cost, which was $1.50 at the time, Martin told KTVB-TV. In addition, libraries, including Boise’s, have been canceling late fees. New York City has done the same.
Now that it has been checked out and checked back in again, the book will never leave.
The library has stashed it in the Idaho Room, where historical volumes are available for perusal but not for checkout.
