1894 Magazine Returned to New Hampshire Library After More Than 130 Years Overdue

A magazine checked out from a New Hampshire library at the end of the 19th century has finally been returned, more than 130 years after it was due, according to a report by The Guardian.

Staff at Concord Public Library were surprised earlier this month when an 84-year-old man named John Hanson walked into the branch with what NBC News described as "a relatively well-cared-for edition" of The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, dated September 1894.

Hanson returned the periodical while taking advantage of a fine amnesty program at the library, according to the report. Had standard late fees applied over the more than a century the magazine was overdue, the amount could have reached as much as $12,055, the report said.

Details on how Hanson came to possess the magazine, or how it remained in good condition for so long, were not fully specified in the available report. The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine was a widely circulated American periodical featuring current affairs, fiction and illustrations during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The library's fine amnesty program, which allowed for the return of long-overdue materials without financial penalty, appears to have been the mechanism that made Hanson's return possible without incurring the substantial late fees.