A magazine borrowed from a US library more than a century ago has finally been returned.
132 years after it was originally checked out, the September 1894 issue of The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine was returned to Concord Public Library in New Hampshire after being in the possession of a local resident named John.
According to the BBC, John said he had no idea how the magazine ended up at his home, although he believes it had been "hanging around" there for decades. He eventually decided to return it after learning that the library had introduced a year-long freeze on overdue fines.
The magazine was reportedly 48,220 days overdue. Under the library's previous fine system, that would have resulted in a bill of around $12,055.
The Library Had Recently Introduced a Fine Freeze
Fortunately for John, he did not have to pay a single cent. Concord Public Library had begun a year-long experiment in September 2026 in which overdue fines were frozen, encouraging people to return items without worrying about potentially large penalties.
The library had expected the initiative to bring back books that had been sitting in people's homes for years, but not anything of this kind. In a Facebook post, they stated:
We've witnessed many happy faces since announcing our fine freeze! Of course, we expected long overdue books to be returned, but certainly not something from the late 19th century!
While the magazine has now made its way back to the library, it is unlikely to return to the regular shelves. Instead, staff is considering displaying it as part of the Concord Room's collection.
Not the Oldest Library Return
While a magazine being returned 132 years late is certainly unusual, it is nowhere near the record for the longest-overdue library item. That distinction belongs to a German history book borrowed from Sidney Sussex College at the University of Cambridge in 1667 or 1668. The book was eventually discovered and returned in 1956, meaning it had been missing for approximately 288 years.
In another famous case, a copy of The Law of Nations borrowed by U.S. President George Washington from the New York Society Library in 1789 was returned in 2010 after about 221 years.
More recently, a copy of The Antiquities of Athens was returned to Kiama Library in Australia in 2026 after reportedly being 150 years overdue.