Borrower returns book taken from Washington library after 73 years! Luckily not fined

Washington, Feb 19: Getting delayed in returning a book borrowed from a library is not uncommon but what if the delay is by over seven decades? Well, a recent incident in the US showed that even that is not something impossible.

The borrower of a children's book called 'The Postman' recently returned it to a public library in Washington DC and it got late by 73 years (even India was not independent when the borrowing happened)! The borrower, Mora Gregg, also attached a note with the book explaining why the delay happened and the news has gone viral in social media.

The Silver Spring Library in Montgomery County revealed about the incident through a recent Facebook post giving details of the book highlighting the life of postal workers as it was in the 1920s.

"The sender's parents had borrowed the book for her from the old Blair House Silver Spring Library when she was a toddler, in 1946. Then the family had to move on short notice and the book was packed up with the rest of their things," the library wrote on Facebook.

Mora was only three years old when her mother had borrowed the book from the library. Her family then had moved to Canada from the US, reported NBC 4 Washington and the book too had changed base with them.

"I just loved the book. I loved the pictures. I could've hung onto it forever. At my age, you give things back that you've lived with for many years," Mora, now 76, was quoted as saying by NBC.

Anita Vassallo, the acting director of Montgomery County Public Libraries, was surprised to receive the book along with the explanatory note.

"This is the oldest thing I've ever seen and we don't always get an explanation of how it was lost to us for so long," Vassallo told DailyMail.

Luckily for Mora, the library doesn't charge late fines for children's books or she would have to pay over $9,000 (Rs 6.4 lakh).