{"id":23069,"date":"2026-07-31T11:53:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T06:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=23069"},"modified":"2026-07-31T11:53:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T06:53:30","slug":"book-found-bricked-in-a-fireplace-returned-to-australian-library-150-years-overdue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=23069","title":{"rendered":"Book found bricked in a fireplace returned to Australian library, 150 years overdue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \"><span class=\"oyrPY qlwaB AGxeB  \">MELBOURNE, Australia &#8212; <\/span>A book on Greek antiquities has been returned to an <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/australia\">Australian<\/a> public library about 150 years late, with water damage from years bricked into a fireplace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The book was returned to the library in the seaside town of <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/general-news-c8dded1f4ff6444398ff537481fd6120\">Kiama<\/a> last week by a local Ross Simmons who had found it during recent home renovations inside a tea crate bricked into a sealed fireplace, Kiama Library manager Michelle Hudson said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cWe\u2019ve never had anything that old come back to us,\u201d Hudson said Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cI follow lots of libraries on social media and often you\u2019ll get things that are maybe 30 or 40 years old when they\u2019re cleaning out estates and stuff like that,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Ross Simmons, told The Associated Press on Friday he assumed the book was borrowed by his great-great-grandfather John Simmons, who had owned the house where it was found.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cI&#8217;m making an assumption. He was in residence in the cottage around about that time and his children were probably too young,\u201d Ross Simmons said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The library opened in 1872, and the book, \u201cAntiquities of Athens,\u201d published in 1858, was marked as No. 506 in the library\u2019s original collection of around 1,000 books. Hudson suspects the book was lost within a few years of the library opening.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The late return fine would be around 28,000 Australian dollars ($19,500), allowing for inflation, Hudson said. That was calculated on the British three pence-a-week overdue fee that was printed on the inside cover of the book, along with a list of rules that applied when the library opened.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">But Hudson said the library&#8217;s records of borrowers in the 1870s had been lost. \u201cUnfortunately, we have a missing link. There\u2019s nothing in the book that tells us who the last borrower was,\u201d Hudson said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Library rules in the 1870s stated that a book had to be returned and an overdue debt paid before another book could be borrowed. \u201cMaybe that\u2019s why they never returned it to us,\u201d Hudson said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Antiquated rules of the day included that up to three books could be borrowed by households in which at least six members were \u201cknown to be able to read.\u201d Proof of reading ability is no longer required to use today\u2019s library.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In the 1870s, books were not lent to people who arrived at the library in a \u201cstate of intoxication.\u201d Library users are now asked to leave if their behavior impacts others, but the rules are not specific about intoxication.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Ross Simmons said he had no idea why his English immigrant ancestor, who had also served as an alderman in Kiama&#8217;s municipal government, would not have returned the book.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">He said he hadn&#8217;t been concerned by the prosect of being held liable by an angry librarian for his family&#8217;s debt.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cI&#8217;ve spent a lifetime dealing with irate customers and being irate with customers himself. Just stick to your guns and say do your worst,\u201d the 77-year-old said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The returned book will be displayed in the library\u2019s local history collection.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">\u201cWe\u2019re not going to allow it to go back out again. We don\u2019t want to wait another 150 years for this book to be returned,\u201d Hudson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MELBOURNE, Australia &#8212; A book on Greek antiquities has been returned to an Australian public library about 150 years late, with water damage from years bricked into a fireplace. The book was returned to the library in the seaside town of Kiama last week by a local Ross Simmons who had found it during recent&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/8ee608e6-a3ed-4333-84ad-5b4d6ab2446e\/wirestory_f4dc126f4eecd345f27f24fdb2742800_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}