An Australian library has witnessed an extraordinary overdue return after a rare book, believed to have been missing for around 150 years, unexpectedly resurfaced during a home renovation.
An Australian library has witnessed an extraordinary overdue return after a rare book, believed to have been missing for around 150 years, unexpectedly resurfaced during a home renovation. The historic volume, Antiquities of Athens, published in 1858, was returned to the Kiama Library after a local resident discovered it hidden inside a tea crate that had been bricked into a sealed fireplace while renovating his home.
Library manager Michelle Hudson described the discovery as unprecedented.
"We’ve never had anything that old come back to us," Hudson said. "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.
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The man who found the book did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Had overdue fines still been enforced, the borrower would have owed an eye-watering sum. Hudson estimated the penalty would total around 28,000 Australian dollars (approximately C$27,450), adjusted for inflation, based on the British three pence-a-week overdue charge printed inside the book. The volume also contains the original borrowing rules from when the library first opened in 1872.
Despite the staggering hypothetical fine, the library has no hope of identifying who borrowed the book. The borrowing journal from the 1870s, which recorded the names of borrowers and loan dates, has long since disappeared.
"Unfortunately, we have a missing link. There’s nothing in the book that tells us who the last borrower was," Hudson said.
Interestingly, the library's rules in the 1870s required patrons to return borrowed books and clear any overdue debts before checking out another title.
"Maybe that’s why they never returned it to us," Hudson said.
The rediscovered book also offers a glimpse into Victorian-era library policies. Households could borrow up to three books only if at least six family members were "known to be able to read." Modern library users, Hudson noted, no longer need to prove their literacy.
Another rule barred anyone arriving at the library in a "state of intoxication" from borrowing books. Today, the library instead asks visitors to leave only if their behaviour disturbs others, without specifically mentioning intoxication.
Although the book survived remarkably well, it bears visible water damage after spending decades hidden beneath a chimney. Marked as No. 506, it formed part of the library's original collection of around 1,000 books. Hudson believes it likely vanished just a few years after the library opened.
Rather than risking another centuries-long disappearance, the treasured volume will now become part of the library's local history display.
"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.
