132-year-old overdue magazine returned to New Hampshire library: "He won't have to pay the $12,055 fine"

A magazine borrowed from the Concord Public Library in New Hampshire 132 years ago has finally been returned.

The library said this week that a patron named John returned the overdue September 1894 issue of "The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine." He said it had been hanging around his house "for decades."

"Thankfully, he won't have to pay the $12,055 fine for being 48,220 days overdue," the library said.

That's because the library just introduced a "fine freeze" this month. Starting Sept. 1 through the next year, outstanding overdue book fines are being frozen and borrowers will not accrue fines for overdue books during that period.      

Concord will study the effects of being a "fine-free library" for a year and will only take action if someone has a lost or damaged item or more than five overdue books. 

"Of course, we expected long overdue books to be returned, but certainly not something from the late 19th century!" the library said. 

John said he isn't sure how the magazine ended up at his house, but he read a newspaper article about the fine freeze and decided it was the right time to return it. The library said the magazine will not be put back into circulation and will likely go on display instead.

The Concord Public Library, founded in 1873, was only about 20 years old when the magazine was checked out.

In 2023, a library book from New Bedford that was checked out for nearly 120 years was found in West Virginia by a rare books curator and returned. The library capped the late fee at $2.