1 of 3 | Workers at a library in England got a “huge surprise” when a pair of books that were 50 years overdue turned up at a thrift store about 60 miles away. Photo courtesy of Leeds City Council
March 4 (UPI) — Workers at a library in England got a “huge surprise” when a pair of books that were 50 years overdue turned up at a thrift store about 60 miles away.
The Leeds City Council said in a news release that the Leeds Central Library was recently contacted by employees at a thrift store in Beverley, East Yorkshire.
The librarians were told two books — Volumes I and II of the Rev. William Buckland’s Geology and Mineralogy — turned up among the donations to the store.
Buckland’s reference tomes were written in 1836, and were checked out from the library 50 years ago, with a due date in March 1976.
“It was a huge surprise to find out that these beautiful books had somehow turned up in such an unlikely place after all these years, and we’re delighted to have them back home at the library, even if they are half a century late,” Sally Hughes, librarian at Leeds Central Library, said in the news release.
“We’ll never know who it was who borrowed them and why, but it speaks volumes about how interesting and influential Rev. Buckland’s observations were that enthusiasts were clearly still keen to read them more than a century after they were written,” she said.
