An overdue book was returned to Galway Library – 77 years after it was borrowed!

A copy of detective noir fiction The Spider’s Web by Ronald Daniel was posted to staff at Galway Public Libraries with an ink stamp indicating it was last borrowed on October 18, 1947.

Included in the package was a handwritten note from a man with an address in Wicklow, who said he recently discovered the book, “amongst the effects in my mother’s house’.

There was no phone number or email, but the library service responded in writing to the return postal address confirming receipt of the book.

Liz Keane, Galway’s County and City Librarian, said long-lost books are returned intermittently but it was unusual to get one back after 77 years.

“We would get stock returned maybe thirty-five- or forty-years post circulation. It’s a lovely gesture that people would consider returning the books.

“This one came in a beautiful bubble envelope; the way it was packaged, you could see there was due care and attention to make sure it arrived safely in the post – it was really heart-warming to see,” she said.

According to Marian Nikolakos, Local Studies librarian at Galway Library, so much time has elapsed since the book was borrowed, it now has historical significance.

“Marian will add it to our local studies collection – it’s a rare, old, fiction collection. This is a first edition crime noir novel, and it would have been all the rage back in the 1940s,” said Liz Keane.

Caption: Galway’s County and City Librarian Liz Keane and Local Studies librarian Marian Nikolakos at Galway Library, pictured with the book that was returned 77 years after it was borrowed. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy

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