A book that sat unreturned for an estimated 150 years has made its way back to a New South Wales library — not through a guilty conscience, but through a home renovation that cracked open a sealed fireplace. The volume, Antiquities of Athens, published in 1858, was discovered by a man hidden inside a tea crate bricked behind a chimney, and has now been returned to Kiama Library on the state's south coast.
Kiama Library manager Michelle Hudson confirmed the extraordinary find, describing it as unlike anything the library had encountered before. "We've never had anything that old come back to us," she said. While libraries occasionally receive books from cleared-out estates — typically decades overdue — Hudson noted that a return stretching back to the 1870s was in an entirely different category.
A Fine Worth $28,000 — But No One to Send the Bill To
Printed inside the front cover of the returned book are the borrowing rules that governed Kiama Library when it first opened its doors in 1872. Among them: a borrowing period of one month, with an overdue fee of three pence per week. Accounting for inflation, Hudson calculated that the accumulated fine on this particular volume would amount to roughly £97, or approximately $28,000 in today's money.
Despite the eye-watering sum, there is no one to pursue for it. The library's journal from the 1870s — which recorded the names of borrowers and the dates books were taken out — has been lost. Nothing inside the book itself identifies who last held it. "Unfortunately, we have a missing link. There's nothing in the book that tells us who the last borrower was," Hudson said.
She suspects the book disappeared from circulation not long after the library opened, and may offer a clue as to why it was never brought back. Under the rules of the era, a borrower had to return any book — and settle any outstanding fine — before they could borrow again. "Maybe that's why they never returned it to us," Hudson said.
A Window Into Victorian-Era Library Rules
The rules printed inside the book offer a fascinating glimpse into how differently public libraries operated in the 1870s. Households with at least six members known to be able to read were permitted to borrow up to three books at a time — and proof of literacy was a genuine requirement for access. Today, no such test exists.
Another rule of the period barred lending to anyone who arrived at the library in a "state of intoxication." Modern library policy has moved away from such specific language; patrons are now simply asked to leave if their behaviour affects others.
The returned volume was catalogued as No. 506 in the library's original collection, which Hudson said comprised around 1,000 books at the time of opening. Its years concealed beneath a chimney have left it with some water damage, but it remains intact. It joins a broader, if unusual, list of returned long-overdue library books that have surfaced around the world over the decades.
The Book's Next Chapter: A Permanent Place in Local History
Rather than return the book to general circulation — a prospect Hudson joked about with obvious dry humour — the library plans to place Antiquities of Athens on permanent display in its local history collection.
"We're not going to allow it to go back out again," Hudson said. "We don't want to wait another 150 years for this book to be returned."
The man who discovered the book during his renovations had not commented publicly at the time of writing. His unexpected find, however, has handed Kiama Library one of the most remarkable returns in Australian library history — and a story that no digital catalogue entry could have predicted.
For those with an interest in how everyday Australians help preserve history in surprising ways, the story echoes broader efforts to keep heritage alive — much like the work of young Australians helping to save the country's heritage through equally unexpected means.
