“It does have beautiful illustrations in it and some pages that fold out to show you they were using exact measurements of some of the monuments in Greece.”
She said in 1872, the council got a £200 grant to establish the town’s library and and it had fewer than 1,000 books in its collection, with the overdue book marked as number 506.
There’s no way to know exactly who borrowed the book or when, Hudson said, as the library’s borrowing records from that period have since been lost.
However, the book is no longer available to borrow, having been added to the library’s collection of special items, which can be viewed on request.
“It won’t be able to go out again… we don’t want to wait another 150 years for it to come back,” Hudson joked.
As for the book’s much-delayed return, Simmons said he believes his great-grandfather would be pleased with the final chapter of its journey.
“I think he’d be happy to see the book returned and he’d probably have a bit of a laugh about it.”
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 