Henry David Thoreau, photograph taken in August 1861 and published circa 1879, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing slightly right. Edited image from Library of Congress item LC-USZ61-361 (b&w film copy neg.).
"I came across these two books that don't belong to me, they belong to you. I must have taken them out when I was a college student in Boston," the note read. "I did not mean to keep them. ... I am returning them to whom they belong, that is you and the people of the city of Boston."
Mary Frances O'Brien, head of public services for the library, said the person who returned the books will not have to pay any late fees, which would have totaled $4,391.80.
