Book checked out of Queens Public Library in 1926 finally returned
NEW YORK - It was an ordinary day at the library until a mysterious package arrived in the mail.
When librarians unsealed the box, they could hardly believe what was inside.
"Lo and behold, it turns out it is the oldest book ever returned to the Queens Library," assistant manager Florence Palomo said.
The copy of "The Lonesome Trail" by B.M. Bower was last checked out on July 22, 1926. Mailed anonymously, the package came with only a short message: "Long overdue book -- sorry!"
The novel, a Western, tells what happens when a group of cowhands leaves ranch life behind for the big city. But an equally adventurous tale is the true history of the book's author.
"Readers and critics of the day really believed that this was written by a man because it seemed so true to actual cowboy life," senior librarian Pat Miller said.
It turns out B.M. stands for Bertha Muzzy, born in 1871.
"I think, at the time, she was the first writer of these pulp novel Westerns as a female," Miller said.
The author's trailblazing career included 57 published novels, several of which were turned into films. It's believed that she used her initials to conceal her gender in a male-dominated genre.
"She had an appeal to women, too, because she did have those strong female characters that were unusual in Westerns," Miller said.
Borrowed from the library when Queens was a different place, "The Lonesome Trail" is destined for preservation. And though B.M. Bower died in 1940, her words are, too.
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