Library book returned 82 years after being borrowed with plea for no late fee: ‘Grandma won't be able to pay for it anymore'
The book — a copy of "Your Child, His Family, and Friends" by marriage and family counselor Frances Bruce Strain, was returned with a note saying "I hope there is no late fee for it because Grandma won't be able to pay for it anymore."
The book was checked out in July 1943 and was returned in June from someone living in Oregon, according to the library.
The person who returned the book noted in their letter that they obtained the book after their father died.
'After the recent death of my father, I inherited a few boxes of books he left behind,' the individual wrote.
The book gives parents advice for helping their children navigate relationships. The individual's father would have been approximately 11 years old when "grandma" checked the book out in 1943.
'The book must have been borrowed by my Grandmother, Maria del Socorro Aldrete Flores (Cortez),' the person who returned the book reasoned. 'In that year, she transferred to Mexico City to work at the US Embassy. She must have taken the book with her, and some 82 years later, it ended up in my possession.'
The book's interior bears a stamp warning borrowers that the overdue fine was three cents a day. Without inflation, that would put the overdue fine at around $900, and with inflation it would be approximately $16,000.
Thankfully for the returner, the library stopped charging overdue fines in 2021.
The library said that the book was in "good condition" and plans to put it on display in the city's central library through the end of August. After that, the book will be donated to the Friends of San Antonio Public Library and sold to help benefit the library.
While 82 years is certainly a long time to wait to return an overdue book, it's not even close to the record for library book returns.
According to Guinness World Records, that record was set by a book that was returned to Sidney Sussex College at England's University of Cambridge in 1956.
That book was reportedly borrowed from the university in 1668, meaning it was out for approximately 288 years and was overdue for longer than the U.S. has existed as a nation.
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