Overdue Book Checked Out During WWII Makes Its Way Back to Library: ‘I Hope There Is No Late Fee’

A book borrowed from the San Antonio Library in 1943 has been returned 82 years later.

“A library book 82 years overdue made its way back to SAPL!” the library posted on Instagram.

“‘Your Child, His Family, and Friends’ by Frances Bruce Strain was checked out in 1943 and due back on July 30 of that year. The book was received by mail at the library in June 2025 from Oregon with a letter, after being discovered in a late patron’s belongings,” the post said.

“After the recent death of my father, I inherited a few boxes of books he left behind,” the person wrote in a letter posted on Instagram.

“The book must have been borrowed by my Grandmother, Maria del Socorro Aldrete Flores (Cortez),” the person wrote.

“In that year, she transferred to Mexico City to work at the US Embassy. She must have taken the book with her, and some 82 years later, it ended up in my possession,” the letter added.

“I hope there is no late fee for it because Grandma won’t be able to pay for it anymore,” the letter said.

According to a news release posted on the library’s website, it no longer charges late fees.

The book will be displayed in the library during the month of August.

After that, “it will be donated to the Friends of San Antonio Public Library for sale in the Book Cellar used book store in the basement at Central Library,” the release said.

Profits from that event benefit the library.

With the 1943 fine of three cents per day, the fine — if one was owed — would have been almost $900, according to the Associated Press.

Although 82 years is a long time, it is far from the oldest library book to be returned.

A book borrowed from Sidney Sussex College in England in 1668 was not returned for 288 years. The book, a history of the Germanic peoples, was borrowed by Colonel Robert Walpole whose son, Sir Robert Walpole, was the first Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Library scofflaws come from all walks of life. George Washington checked out a book called “The Law of Nations” by Emmerich de Vattel on Oct. 5, 1789, according to The Week. The book was never returned, although Mount Vernon did get the New York Library a replacement in 2010.

Then there was the anonymous borrower of James Clerk Maxwell’s “An Elementary Treatise on Electricity” who checked it out of the New Bedford Free Public Library on Feb. 14, 1904, according to NPR.

The book was returned in 2023 after Stewart Plein, curator of rare books at West Virginia University Libraries, found it with some donations.

“This came back in extremely good condition,” New Bedford Public Library Director Olivia Melo said at the time. “Someone obviously kept this on a nice bookshelf because it was in such good shape and probably got passed down in the family.”

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