A book borrowed about 150 years ago from a public library in the Australian coastal town of Kiama has been returned. The book, “Antiquities of Athens,” published in 1858, was found during a home renovation. By one reckoning, the fine for not returning it on time could have come to about 1.87 million taka.
The library authorities said a person found the book while renovating his home. It had been hidden in a wooden tea chest inside a fireplace that had been sealed off with a brick.
It was book number 506 in the library’s initial collection of about 1,000 books. Having sat by the chimney for so long, it had been damaged by water. It is thought to have been lost within a few years of the library opening in 1872.
Kiama library manager Michelle Hudson said that, under the library’s old rules, the fine for the book not being returned for so long came to about 28,000 Australian dollars adjusted for inflation — about 1.87 million taka.
“No book this old has ever been returned to us before,” she said. “Among the libraries I follow on social media, you usually see books coming back after 30 or 40 years.”
Who borrowed the book, however, can no longer be known, because the 1870s borrowing register — which recorded which person took which book and when — has been lost.
“Unfortunately we don’t have that important link,” Hudson said. “There’s no record inside the book either of who last took it.”
Under the library’s rules at the time, a borrower who did not return a book and clear the dues could not take out a new one. In addition, if at least six people in a family could read, they could borrow up to three books. Anyone who turned up drunk was not given a book either.
Given its historical importance, the book will now be displayed in Kiama library’s local history collection.
Michelle Hudson joked: “This time the book won’t be lent to anyone. I don’t want to wait another 150 years to get it back.”
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report