After 110 years, an overdue e book Is returned to a library in Idaho

In 1911, somebody checked out a replica of the e book “New Chronicles of Rebecca” from a library in Boise, Idaho.
For the following 110 years, the town’s libraries would survive pandemics, recessions and world wars — all with out that duplicate of the 278-page collection of tales by Kate Douglas Wiggin about an imaginative lady named Rebecca.
Then, the amount turned up in November at Boise’s primary library. The circumstances of its restoration, nevertheless, stay a thriller, mentioned Lindsey Driebergen, the interim communications supervisor for the Boise Public Library system.
“We don’t have any info about where it was from,” she mentioned.
All that’s identified, she mentioned, is that the e book was returned both in late October or early November to a library in close by Garden City. The librarians there despatched the e book to the primary library in Boise as a result of it nonetheless had inserts from an outdated library within the metropolis that has since closed.
It was not clear who had checked out the copy, who had returned it or the place it was all this time. One idea is that the e book, a sequel to a story a few village lady in Maine, might have spent the final century in an attic, “because it was really well taken care of,” Driebergen mentioned.
The checkout document of an early version of ÒNew Chronicles of Rebecca.Ó The e book was checked out of the Boise Public Library in 1911 and returned in 2021. (Image/The New York Times)
Whoever had the e book saved it in “immaculate” situation, she mentioned.
“The cover was in great shape, all of the pages were crisp, nothing was missing, all the images were there,” she mentioned.
There have been different instances of books being returned a long time overdue, however 110 years is an unusually very long time. This yr, a Wisconsin lady mailed a e book that was 63 years overdue to the Queens Public Library in New York. In 2016, a 72-year-old Manhattan lady returned a e book that was 57 years overdue.
Driebergen mentioned copies of “New Chronicles of Rebecca” offered for about $1.50 when it was revealed in 1907.
The one that checked out “New Chronicles of Rebecca” in 1911 can relaxation peacefully, because the Boise Public Library scrapped late charges for overdue books in 2019. Otherwise, the individual would have owed round $800, as a result of the library charged a superb of two cents per day, the library mentioned on Facebook.
However, even within the early twentieth century, the library by no means charged fines greater than the price of the e book, mentioned Anne Marie Martin, a library assistant on the primary library.
“Books may be kept two weeks without renewal, unless otherwise labeled,” one of many e book inserts mentioned. The e book’s checkout document confirmed it was due in November 1911, not 2021. It was listed as lacking in 1912, Martin mentioned.

Several library techniques throughout the nation have accomplished away with overdue fines lately to encourage folks to maintain coming again.
“New Chronicles of Rebecca” was a sequel to the extra in style 1903 novel “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” by Wiggin, an writer, trainer and composer. The tales comply with the lifetime of Rebecca Rowena Randall, a cheerful Maine lady who was despatched to reside along with her two aunts. “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” was made right into a 1938 film of the identical title starring Shirley Temple.
It doesn’t seem that the copy of “New Chronicles of Rebecca” that was returned to the Boise library is uncommon. Eric E. Wiggin, a distant cousin of the writer’s husband who wrote a 3rd installment of the collection, mentioned that there have been many early version copies of the e book in circulation. In reality, he has many himself.
“I’m trying to get rid of them,” mentioned Wiggin, 82.
However, the library’s copy will be the just one with a e book binding that claims the writer’s final title is “Wiggins.”
“Probably that was a mistake from the Pioneer Library Bindery,” Martin mentioned.
Library books are sometimes rebound with a stiffer binding, and this one was possible rebound someday earlier than it was first checked out, she mentioned.
Now that the Boise Public Library’s copy of “New Chronicles of Rebecca” has lastly been returned, it will likely be displayed in a particular room on the primary library, Driebergen mentioned.
The librarians have no idea the title of the one that checked out the e book in 1911 as a result of they not save the paper information that have been used a century in the past, she mentioned.
But the library is hoping that somebody with information of the e book’s former whereabouts may let the employees know. “We’re hoping someone comes forward and says, ‘Hey, it was my grandma’s book,’ ” Driebergen mentioned.
“If we had a little bit of understanding as to the history of it, we’d love to hear it,” she added, promising, “There’s obviously no fines or anything that would be implemented.”