An overdue book has been returned to a New York library after 90 years.
Joseph Conrad checked out ‘Youth and Two Other Stories’ in 1933 – when Franklin D. Roosevelt was US President.
The book was due back to the library on October 11, 1933, but it ended up being lost for nearly a century.
Joanie Morgan, a local resident of Larchmont, New York, found the book among her stepfather’s belongings and mailed it back to Larchmont Public Library last month.
Librarians said the overdue book could have amassed a fine of over $6,400 (£5,200) at the rate of 20 cents per day. However, all library fines are capped at a maximum of $5 (£4).
A spokesperson for the library said: “At 20 cents a day, it seems like the fine could easily have reached over $6,400 (£5,200). But no, the real answer is only $5 (£4).
“No matter how long a Larchmont Public Library book is overdue, if it gets returned, the maximum fine is a whopping five bucks.”
Local residents commented on the story in disbelief.
One resident, Karen, wrote: “Oh how my mother and older sister used to argue over her overdue library books at Larchmont library. The fine was $.02 a day. My sister’s standard response always was ‘I’m waiting for a day of amnesty.’”
Another resident, Heather, said: “Cute story!”
Separately, a book was returned to a US library after 120 years overdue.
The book, ‘An Elementary Treatise on Electricity,’ was checked out in 1903 and was discovered by Stewart Plein, the Curator of Rare Books and Printed Resources at the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources.
Plein returned the book to the New Bedford Free Public Library in Massachusetts.
A librarian at the New Bedford establishment said: “It’s not often you get a book back after 100 years of circulation.”
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