A former shoplifter has brought a 40-year-old theft to an unexpected close, mailing back a rare first-edition book he stole from a Northern California bookstore — along with a sincere apology and a crisp $100 bill.
The surprising delivery arrived Monday at Booklegger, a bookstore in Eureka’s Old Town district, where owner Jennifer McFadden found the package just as she was preparing to leave for the day.
According to the Lost Coast Outpost, one of the store’s employees urged McFadden to open the mail before heading out, a decision that quickly turned an ordinary afternoon into an emotional one.
“We received a small package in the mail today, and couldn’t read the handwritten return address, so we had no idea if it was promotional material about a book or who knows what. In fact it contained something so unexpected and touching the three of us who were working ended up with tears in our eyes,” owner Jennifer McFadden posted on Facebook.
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Inside was the long-missing volume, a return that left the Booklegger staff astonished.
“Making up for a past wrong, no matter how belatedly, takes courage. Yes, people make mistakes, but the ways the people show us the good of humanity are far more numerous,” she continued.
In the apology letter, the man wrote that he had once been a student at “HSU with a horrible drug and alcohol problem” and had been desperate for money at the time. Years later, after turning his life around, he rediscovered the stolen book while cleaning out his garage.
The returned book was a first-edition 1953 copy of “The Unstrung Harp” by Edward Gorey, the American author and Tony Award-winning costume designer.
Booklegger’s staff priced “The Unstrung Harp” at $125, but the owner said that the gesture was worth far more. She also plans on texting the man to thank him and to tell him to feel unburdened.
