March 21 (UPI) -- Librarians in Ohio said a copy of Wild West by Bertrand W. Sinclair is returning to circulation after being returned 98 years past its due date.
The Cincinnati & Hamilton County Public Library said on social media that the tome was checked out in 1926 and returned to the Prince Hill Branch in late 2024.
Christopher Smith, the facility's genealogy and research services reference librarian, said the book was found by a family on the shelf of an elderly relative who recently died.
"We assume it's the person who checked it out, but we don't know that," Smith told WVXU News.
Smith said it would take a lot of digging through old records to find out if the library even has lending ledgers that old.
The library bought a new copy of the book a few years after it failed to return, and that copy is still in circulation today. Smith said it will now be joined by its long-absent twin.
"I just found it fascinating. The fact that it came back in decent shape, considering it's an almost a 100-year-old book -- that's crazy," Smith said. "The fact that it made it back to us, and didn't just make it into the garbage or recycling or getting ground up for paper pulp? It's just amazing that a book like that made it back to us."
Smith said the library no longer charges late fees, but he estimated the 98-year overdue book would have accrued about $730 in fines under the old system.
