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Book Returned to Library 84 Years Overdue
EuroWeekly News ^ | 30 May 2024 | John Smith

Posted on 06/01/2024 11:06:19 AM PDT by nickcarraway

There was some amusement as well as surprise when somebody walked into Helsinki’s Oodi Central Library on Monday 27 with a book that was overdue.

84 years overdue

It’s not unusual to be a little delayed in returning a library book but this one was unusual in as much as it was due back on December 26, 1939 making it just over 84 years late!

The person who returned it isn’t the person who first took out the book The Refugees (Pakolaiset in Finnish) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and it is not known whether there was a fine and if so how much.

Book returned to library 84 years overdue

Coincidentally, another book which was also 84 years late was returned to Coventry Library in the UK in 2022 and the fine then was calculated at £18.27, being one old penny a week for the 4,385 weeks it was overdue.

Russian Invasion of Finland

Apparently the book returned in Finland was in remarkably good condition and the library is considering whether to put make it available to the current generation of readers, especially as this is a survivor of the Russian Invasion of Finland which took place at the end of November 1939.

This is not apparently the longest overdue book to be returned in Finland as according to TV station YLE, Helsinki’s Pukinmäki Library received another Conan Doyle novel in 2015 which was 87 years overdue.


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Local News; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: book; epigraphyandlanguage; finland; godsgravesglyphs; helsinki; library; overdue; pages; pakolaiset; sirarthurconandoyle; suomi; therefugees

1 posted on 06/01/2024 11:06:19 AM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

I’ve read The Refugees, and it didn’t take anywhere near that long. Maybe if I’d tried to read it in Finnish it might have.


2 posted on 06/01/2024 11:17:13 AM PDT by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: HartleyMBaldwin

Meh - try it in Hungarian.


3 posted on 06/01/2024 11:21:32 AM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~Am Yisrael Chai ~)
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To: nickcarraway
Probably about 45 years ago when I was very young I took a book out of the library and forgot all about it. When I realized what had happened some time later I was worried I'd get in trouble and that the fine would be way too much for me so I stuffed it into the back of my bookcase and hoped for the best.

I like these stories about how people are amused and forgiving about long overdue books but I live in deep-blue fascist New Jersey. I'd probably be jailed for 10 years if it ever came out.

4 posted on 06/01/2024 11:24:01 AM PDT by pepsi_junkie ("We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. F. B. I. is tending in that direction." - Harry S Truman)
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To: nickcarraway

5 posted on 06/01/2024 11:25:48 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: pepsi_junkie

https://youtu.be/rNlEZERpQqQ?si=4eDL_XazIAi1UPcQ


6 posted on 06/01/2024 11:28:13 AM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: dfwgator
My first thought, too - Mr Bookman stole every scene!


7 posted on 06/01/2024 11:36:04 AM PDT by newfreep ("There is no race problem...just a problem race")
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To: pepsi_junkie

“Don’t Bundy That Book!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH6KwnG9kPo


8 posted on 06/01/2024 11:38:11 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: nickcarraway

If the person who returned the book is a registered Republican, there’s going to be one hell of a fine.


9 posted on 06/01/2024 12:20:02 PM PDT by libertylover (Our biggest problem, by far, is that almost all of big media is AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
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To: nickcarraway

Had me beat, I only 39 years for mine.


10 posted on 06/01/2024 12:26:35 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (Stormy Daniels is a McGuffin)
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To: nickcarraway
the fine then was calculated at £18.27, being one old penny a week for the 4,385 weeks

Funny, I get £ 18 s 5 d 5

11 posted on 06/01/2024 1:02:51 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (לעזאזל עם חמאס)
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To: nickcarraway

Why are these stories, anyone who buys used books has lots of overdue library books and school books they can pull out of their library, look at the books at garage sales and estate sales for examples.


12 posted on 06/01/2024 1:33:25 PM PDT by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
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To: nickcarraway
Why do libraries care about overdue books?

I can't even give books away to my local library.

13 posted on 06/01/2024 1:40:40 PM PDT by Trailerpark Badass (“There should be a whole lot more going on than throwing bleach,” said one woman)
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To: Trailerpark Badass

Reading’s for fags.


14 posted on 06/01/2024 1:42:54 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: nickcarraway

I love books, myself, but I’m a bit of a dinosaur in that regard. Everybody’s got their face buried in electronic devices of some kind these days. Seriously, when was the last time you saw someone reading an actual book?


15 posted on 06/01/2024 2:15:20 PM PDT by fidelis (Ecce Crucem Domini! Fugite partes adversae! Vicit Leo de tribu Juda, Radix David! Alleluia!)
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To: nickcarraway

It’s not necessarily “overdue.” Sometimes libraries have book sales. I’ve purchased used books online, and some of them have library stamps in them. Are they “overdue”? Or did someone get them at library sales and then they ended up at an online bookseller?


16 posted on 06/01/2024 2:16:32 PM PDT by Nea Wood ( )
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To: nickcarraway

more remarkable is, the library is still standing after 84 years


17 posted on 06/01/2024 2:49:16 PM PDT by blueplum ("...this moment is your moment: it belongs to you... " President Donald J. Trump, Jan 20, 2017) )
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To: nickcarraway

Just wondering, did the library have Drag Queen Story hour back then? 🤓


18 posted on 06/01/2024 6:25:51 PM PDT by Deplorable American1776 (Guns don't kill people, LIBERALS DO!! Support the Second Amendment...)
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19 posted on 06/02/2024 8:04:02 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Putin should skip ahead to where he kills himself in the bunker.)
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To: nickcarraway

I never understand why overdue books make headlines.


20 posted on 06/03/2024 6:05:58 PM PDT by Sawdring
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