Old travel book returned to library — 90 years after its due date: 'Fortunately ... we no longer charge late fines!'

A Massachusetts library received an unexpected Christmas present this year: an old book checked out nearly a century ago and returned by a stranger of good will.

On Monday, the Watertown Free Library in Watertown, Massachusetts, less than 10 miles west of Boston, posted on Facebook that it now has a copy of "Hill Towns of Italy" by Egerton Ryerson Williams back in its keep. Originally checked out in January 1934, the book was returned by a "far-flung patron" who found the book somewhere in Washington, D.C.

The thoughtful person then stopped by the library during "a trip to Boston" to return it, the post explained.

Back in 1934, the library allowed patrons to check books out for two weeks at a time and charged a $.02 late fee for every day they were late. After almost 90 years, the original loanee would have had to cough up approximately $656 in back payment. "Fortunately for them, we no longer charge late fines!" the library post joked.

"If you return an item that is 'billed,' your charges for that item disappear!" it assured library users.

True to its title, "Hill Towns of Italy" offers readers a glimpse at some picturesque towns in remote parts of Italy which other travel guides at the time seemingly ignored. "It was this lack of a comprehensive book upon the hill towns which induced me to give to the public these memoirs, records of individual experience, ... to draw the attention of those who go abroad to the wonderful cities of the Apennines, and in the hope that those who stay at home may be able to see them, at least faintly, through my eyes," Williams of Rochester, New York, wrote in the preface dated October 4, 1903, the same year the book was published.

The copyright on the book has long since expired, so interested readers may access the book for free online. Those who prefer reading books in a traditional format may also head to the Watertown library, which now has a hard copy of it once again.

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