Better late than never — even when “late” means more than a century.
An 84-year-old man returned a magazine to a New Hampshire library more than 130 years after it was checked out. Under the library’s former late-fee system, the publication would have carried a staggering $12,055 fine, but the charges had been frozen.
The September 1894 edition of “The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine” somehow came into the possession of John Hanson and remained at his Barrington home for decades, according to a social media post from the Concord Public Library earlier this month.
Hanson decided it was finally time to return the long-missing periodical after reading a Concord Monitor article about the library’s decision to freeze fines, the library said.
“Yeah, when I saw that, I said to myself, ‘Boy, this would be a good time to bring it back,’” Hanson told NBC News.
The more than century-old magazine will not go back into circulation. Still, thanks to the fine freeze, Hanson avoided a $12,055 penalty for returning the publication 48,220 days overdue.
“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!” the Concord Public Library wrote.
