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Cambridge University library book returned more than 50 years late

Jerwood Library 19th Century atlasJerwood Library
The atlas includes 11 detailed maps of India showing the areas under British control at the time

A library book more than 50 years overdue has been returned to a university.

The 19th Century atlas, borrowed by a Trinity Hall, Cambridge, undergraduate in the 1970s, was left at its Jerwood Library after a college reunion.

A note from the borrower explained it was "an old atlas that was of historical interest".

The library said it was grateful to have it back and it was "definitely a case of better late than never".

It added that it had been borrowed in the early 1970s but as there were no surviving records of loans from that time, the exact date was not known.

Geograph/Bob Harvey Jerwood College LibraryGeograph/Bob Harvey
The book was returned to the Jerwood Library at Trinity Hall after a college reunion

In a blog post, it said the "rare" book, was published in about 1856 by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK), founded in London in 1826 by the Whig politician, Lord Henry Brougham.

Until its demise in 1848, the society published a range of publications on a variety of subjects intended for a working class readership.

The library added that the society's most successful publication was a set of "inexpensive, but high-quality atlas maps" and until their publication, atlases were "expensive - luxury items intended for the gentleman's library".

"The SDUK maps were intended to attract a wide readership and be affordable, and they are some of the most accurate and well-designed maps of the time," it said.

Jerwood Library British North AmericaJerwood Library
Another map shows British North American territories including Canada, all or large parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the north-eastern part of Minnesota, and large parts of Maine

The Trinity Hall atlas contains more than 160 engraved maps produced by J & C Walker which reflect a time when the British Empire was expanding.

It includes 11 detailed maps of India showing the areas under British control and a map showing British North America.

The library said that at an average rate of 20p per day, the library fine for the book's late return would have been roughly £3,000, but it had not charged overdue fines for three years.

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