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Book returned to library 145 years overdue | Books | guardian.co.uk

A book looted from a US library during the American civil war has finally been returned, almost 145 years overdue.

The only stipulation of the Illinois handball coach who returned the title – the first in WFP Napier's four-volume History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France – was that he didn't have to pay the $52,858 (£36,000) fine.

The leather-bound volume was taken from the shelves of the Washington and Lee University library in Lexington, Virginia on 11 June 1864 by a Union soldier when General David Hunter and his army of West Virginia raided the area. Passed down by the soldier, CS Gates, through generations of his family, it eventually came into the possession of Mike Dau, of Lake Forest, Illinois, from one of Gates's descendents.

"Mrs Gates had shown me the book many years before she died," said Dau. "I knew that this was a very special book, and remember telling Mrs Gates even then that it really belonged back with its rightful owner."

He decided to make the trip to return the book – which is inscribed with a reference to the raid, and a handwritten reference to Washington College – to the library in person. "Given all the history that is wrapped up in this book, I certainly wasn't going to just send it off," he said. "I wanted to see where it was going."

At the library's current fine rate of $1 a day, Dau could have been the recipient of a $52,858 late return penalty, but the fine was waived.

"It's a remarkable story," said Laura Turner, technical services director for the library.

eatpomegranate

wow, thanks for sharing

~MuNiYa~

Imagine if they made him pay the fee?

maroush

$52,858 fee?

Nancy Drew

interesting .....thanx 4 sharing!