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Coventry library book returned 84 years late

Earlsdon Library A man holding a library bookEarlsdon Library
Paddy Riordan calculated the library book taken out by his late grandfather was 4,385 weeks late

A library book has been returned 84 years late.

The copy of Red Deer, by Richard Jefferies, was taken out on loan at Earlsdon Library, Coventry, in 1938 by the late Capt William Humphries.

His grandson Paddy Riordan returned the text - which survived the Blitz - on Tuesday, having found it while clearing out his mother's house.

"I feel I have expunged my grandfather's crime," he said, tongue in cheek while turning over a new leaf.

Mr Riordan returned the book with a donation to the library of £18.27 - thought to be equivalent to the 4,385d (pre-decimal penny) that would have been racked up in fines at the 1930s rate.

If the library's current rate of 25p per day had been applied, the fee would have been £7,673.

"It's such a lovely piece of the library's history," said Lucy Winter, community engagement coordinator.

"[Mr Riordan] was so nice and it was so kind of him to donate the fine back to the library," she told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Earlsdon Library An old library book front pageEarlsdon Library
Red Deer is thought to be the most overdue book in Earlsdon Carnegie Community Library's history

Mr Riordan, who lives near Saffron Walden, Essex, said he thought it would be "fun" for the library to have its book back.

Capt Humphries had borrowed the nature book for his six-year-old daughter Anne, Mr Riordan's mother, who died recently.

It should have been returned on 11 October 1938, but Mr Riordan discovered it while clearing out his mother's house in Hinckley, Leicestershire.

"My grandfather lived in Earlsdon in the late 1930s. That was where my mother was growing up at the time," he said.

"I don't know quite why he didn't return it but two years later... the Blitz took most of the house out but not the library book."

He added library staff seemed "quite surprised" to see the book returned.

"I felt rather bad as I was returning it - they asked if I had read it and I hadn't," he said.

"Maybe I should try and take it out again just so I can read it myself. It really wasn't that exciting a book though, honestly."

Earlsdon Library A picture of a man and little girl in black and white with a handwritten note and typed calculationsEarlsdon Library
Mr Riordan donated an equivalent fine of £18.27 on behalf of his late grandfather

A notice on the front page of the book states texts should be returned within 14 days.

Asked if 84 years was the longest time a book had been overdue in the library's history, Ms Winter said: "I would think so."

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