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A book borrowed from a library in Helsinki has been returned – 84 years late.
A Finnish translation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s historical novel The Refugees was received by librarian Heini Strand on Monday at the main desk at Oodi Helsinki Central Library.
“The loan term was Dec. 26, 1939,” Strand said, adding that she had never received such a long term book.
The relationship between the person who happily returned the book and the original borrower remained unknown.
“Typically, these types of loans returned decades past due are books discovered when people were going through the belongings of deceased relatives,” Strand said.
“People want to do the right thing and return the book that is owned by the library … I think that’s wonderful,” she added.
A likely explanation for the delayed return was that the cut-off date fell a month after the Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939, Strand noted. “Returning the book may not have been the first thing on the lender’s mind when the due date approached.”
The Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union raged between the neighboring countries until March 1940, when a peace treaty was signed forcing Finland to make significant land concessions.
“If the man survived the war, he probably had other things on his mind than getting the book back,” Strand said.
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The book is a historical novel published in 1893 and set in 17th century France written by the British author best known for his Sherlock Holmes stories.
According to Strand, the library could make the book – an edition published in 1925 – available to the public again because it was received in such good condition.
“The quality of old books is usually much better than new,” she added.
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