Way Overdue

A book was returned recently to the New York Public Library--55 years overdue!  The book in question is The Fire of Francis Xavier by Arthur McGratty, a biography of the Jesuit priest and missionary.  It was checked out of the Fort Washington branch in 1958.  The borrower mailed in the overdue book rather than face the wrath of the library staff.  The library doesn't employ anyone to track down overdue books (certainly no one like library detective Bookman, one of my favorite characters on Seinfeld), but relies on traditional methods.  An article from the New York Magazine Daily Intelligencer provides more details, including books returned 122 and 135 years after their due dates.