Woman returns her grandfather's library book after 99 years
WeirdNews
Woman returns library book after 99 years
(Web Desk) - A New Jersey woman found an old library book her grandfather borrowed 99 years ago.
She decided to return it.
Thankfully, she didn’t have to pay the tab of $18,000 in fines for the book being decades late in returning.
“When I was going through some of my mother’s things, I’m looking through and I find this book,” Mary Cooper said.
The book “Homemade Toys for Girls and Boys” was published in August 1915.
“And I find the dates and I’m thinking this has to have been taken out by my grandfather,” Cooper added. “They’re supposed to be returned 3-31-26, and unfortunately, he passed away the next year. His name was Charles Tilton. He was a boatwright and a carpenter. I had a boat that he made for my mom.”
Cooper said she wanted to return the book because she felt sure they would want to have it back.
“Mary had said, ‘You know, you’re going to want to take a look at this. It’s 99 years late,” the librarian remembers. “What a serendipitous thing to happen that during our 100th year is when this book got returned.”
The librarian said with inflation, it would probably be over $18,000 in fines.
“But we don’t have fines anymore. We are fine free, which makes it even more easy and accessible for people to enjoy the library,” she added.
The book is now on display in the library’s archives in a locked case so that it can be viewed and appropriately handled.
