Book found outside British library 49 years after due date

Jan. 29 (UPI) -- A book found in a hallway outside of a British library turned to have been due back at the facility 49 years and six months earlier.

The Torrington Library in Devon, England, said on social media that a copy of The Boy and the River by Henri Bosco was found by a volunteer in a hallway just outside of the library.

"Thank you to whoever left this slightly overdue library book outside the library recently," the post said. "It was due back 23rd June 1975 and is older than some of our staff! I wonder where it has been for the last 49 years?"

Library supervisor Kate Cooper theorized the book may have been left in the hallway by a former patron who was worried about overdue fees.

"We don't fine for children's books anymore, but it would be about £3,600 [about $4,482]," she told the BBC. "We are obviously not expecting anyone to pay us that sort of money."