NJ Library Book Overdue: Shakespeare’s Book Returns 101 Years and 8 Months Later

PATERSON, New Jersey (WABC) — Work at the Paterson Public Library doesn’t always grab a headline — but this time it’s after a remarkable return of books — 101 years and 8 months after the fact.

It was Shakespeare’s “Life of King Henry V,” and it was due to return to the Paterson Public Library on February 1, 1923. It was found on the Colorado bookshelf when Cynthia Delhaie was doing some recent digging.

“It’s a small book, and the cover was tattered, but not bad,” Delhaie said.

Delhaie told Eyewitness News by phone that she inherited the book from her grandmother, Arlene, in 1995.

“From the beginning, I knew it was old, but I didn’t know how old,” Delhaie said.

He also didn’t know it didn’t really belong to him until he saw the library card, which said it was last checked out by Lillian Burns, a name he didn’t recognize. However, it was verified when her grandmother would have been only six years old – far too young for Shakespeare.

“She was amazed to find the book, but also to connect it to its rightful owner,” said Corey Fleming, director of the Paterson Public Library.

As Shakespeare would say, no legacy is so rich as honesty.

“That’s how I looked at it – it wasn’t my book, it was the library book,” Delhaie added, “I didn’t want to send it if they were going to charge me – it would have been a lot of money. !”

It would have cost $3,868 to be exact.

“We pay ten cents a day … for the price of a book,” added Fleming.

The library waived that fee – the rest is, well, history. The book with a backstory that even Shakespeare would have loved is expected to go on display in Paterson very soon.

READ ALSO: NJ man shocked when bill for ambulance ride lands him in collections two years later

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