Century-old overdue library book returned to Wellington decades later

The book was donated in a book sale in Sydney. Photo / Supplied

An old book taken from a library in Wellington in the early 1900s has found its way back thanks to a book binder in Sydney.

It's not known when the book was taken from the Newtown branch of Wellington City Libraries - it joined the collection in 1902 - but council libraries manager Laurinda Thomas said it was safe to say the book has been missing "for a good 50 years".

"It just, as I understand it, arrived in the post back to us from a lady who is a book binder in New South Wales," Thomas told the Herald.

The book, The Earl of Derby by George Saintsbury, was donated in a book sale in Sydney's Northern Beaches, and found its way to the book binder, Barbara Schmelzer.

The overdue fees are "a penny a day for the first week and twopence per day thereafter". Photo / Supplied

She had lived in Newtown, Wellington, for many years, so decided to rebind the book and send it back to New Zealand.

In a letter to the library, Schmelzer wrote the book was of "no great monetary value" and was partially out of its cover so was "destined for the recycling bin".

But she believed the library might appreciate the book's return for "historic/sentimental reasons".

Thomas said it wasn't clear when the book had been withdrawn from the library, so couldn't say how long it had been overdue for - but the "penny a day" overdue fees were being waived.

If the book went missing in 1910, based on today's daily overdue fees of 80 cents, the fee in 2020 would be around $32,000.

"Particularly for a public library that has such a long history, it's always fascinating to get this kind of material come back to us," Thomas said.

"It tells us some things about the history of our own library system that actually most of us don't know anymore."

Stamps and slips inside the book outline the old overdue fees from 1902.

"A fine will be levied of one penny per day for the first week, and twopence per day thereafter," the slip states.

"It's just a lovely memory of our history and heritage that we had in our libraries at the time," Thomas said.

Our librarians were shocked yesterday to discover the return of an item from 1902. Master Bookbinder Barbara Schmelzer found an old Newtown Library book on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, rebound and returned it. In this instance we have decided to waive one penny per day fine. pic.twitter.com/OLaRBYPEXy

— Wellington City Libraries (@wcl_library) August 20, 2020

"It's actually been just a really nice thing to happen during the middle of everything that's happening with Covid, and yeah, I think we all kind of appreciate the thought and the lightness that's come with that sentiment."

The book will be left at the Newtown library branch for a week for people to look at, then it will be assessed to see whether it should be added to the rare book collection.

There was also a chance the book could be added to the general distribution list again so library members could once again borrow it.