The Australian town of Kiama, nestled in the seaside, 130 kilometers away from the hustle and bustle of Sydney, woke up to a bizarrely happy news last week. Its public library had a visitor, who wanted to return a book that had gone missing 150 years ago.
As hard as it might be to believe, not only did Ross Simmons return the book, but he would now have to pay a fine of 28,000 Australian dollars, which is roughly equal to Rs 19 Lakh at the current dollar/Rupees exchange rate.
Where was the book found?
The book on Greek antiquities was found by Ross during recent home renovations. The book had been placed inside a tea crate and bricked into a sealed fireplace.
Kiama Library manager Michelle Hudson, while reacting to the findings said, “We’ve never had anything that old come back to us.”
“I follow lots of libraries on social media and often you’ll get things that are maybe 30 or 40 years old when they’re cleaning out estates and stuff like that,” she added, as per AP News.
Who borrowed the book?
John Simmons, great, great grandfather of Ross, seems to have borrowed the book from the library, as per the timeline. The book, ‘Antiquities of Athens’ was published in 1858, the library was opened in 1872 and that book was lost in the initial few years of the opening itself as the library doesn’t seem to have a record of its date of loss.
“I’m making an assumption. He was in residence in the cottage around about that time and his children were probably too young,” Ross said about why he thinks it was borrowed by his late relative.
Hudson, the manager, on the other hand, said that they have lost the record of borrowers from the 1870s.
“Unfortunately, we have a missing link. There’s nothing in the book that tells us who the last borrower was,” Hudson said.
How has the fine been calculated on the returned book?
As per the rules of the library at the time of its opening, British three pence-a-week overdue fee was levied, as was printed on the inside cover of the book.
The book also had several rules enlisted in the 1870s, one of which was, ‘book had to be returned and an overdue debt paid before another book could be borrowed’.
Calculating in pence from the 1870s onwards, the late return fine would be around 28,000 Australian dollars ($19,500), allowing for inflation, Hudson said.
What would happen to the book now?
As per the report, 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.