In the coastal city of Kiama, Australia, a book that was found walled up in a fireplace during a home renovation has been returned to the public library. The publication, released in 1858, is considered overdue by approximately 150 years. This was reported by AP, as conveyed by UNN.
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According to the publication, the book "Antiquities of Athens" was returned to the library last week by local resident Ross Simmons. He said he found it during a home renovation in a tea chest that was bricked up in the fireplace. The man suggests that the book was once borrowed by his great-great-grandfather John Simmons, who owned the house.
"I'm making an assumption. Around that time, he lived in the cottage, and his children were probably too young," said Ross Simmons.
Kiama Library manager Michelle Hudson said the institution had never received such an old book back before.
"Nothing that old has ever been returned to us," the manager said.
Specifically, the library opened in 1872, and the found book, published in 1858, bore the number "506" in a collection of about a thousand volumes. According to Hudson, the book was likely lost in the early years after the library's opening.
Customs officers handed over an 18th-century Latin book to Ukraine's oldest library12.02.26, 15:40