Library Books Overdue for More than 70 Years Finally Returned
- by Michael Stillman
Inside the renovated Somervcille Library (photo from Sommerville Public Library website).
We have a couple of stories of overdue library books this month. These are not typical overdue books, but ones dating back to the first half of the twentieth century. Such books rarely ever make a return, but recently two did, one along the east coast, the other along the west. These accounts were published in the Boston Globe and The Press Democrat.
From Somerville, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, Bob Alvarez recently walked into the Somerville Public Library with some overdue books, seriously overdue. They had been taken out in the 1930s. Alvarez is not a youngster, but at just 63, it absolved him of being the one who borrowed these books but never returned them. It turns out the culprit was his aunt, Helen Godimis. However, she was not really to blame. Miss Godimis came down with the flu in 1937 at the age of 16 and died. The books ended up in a wooden box and were stored in the family's attic until 2010, when the house was sold.
Mr. Alvarez moved the box and other family possessions to his basement, where they sat around for another decade. Finally, last June, he opened the box to see what was there. That's when he found the books, 39 of them. Ten were from the Somerville Library and were due to be returned in 1937. They were educational types of books, the kind nobody would have much missed anyway. There was Carpenter’s New Geographical Reader: Asia and Language Lessons from Literature, Book One. Rather than read them, Mr. Alvarez called the library. The librarian told him that they would be happy to have them back, the timing being serendipitous since the library was just being reopened after closing down for renovations in 2018.
This story has a happy ending for Mr. Alvarez. The Somerville Public Library just instituted a no-fine policy for overdue books on July 1. He is off the hook.
The second case comes from the Sonoma County (California) Library. One spring day in 1950, 13-year-old Gail Herr went down to the library to borrow a book. She selected Dancing Star, a biography of Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova by Gladys Malvern. It was due on June 2, 1950. On June 3, it began its 70-year journey as an overdue book. She went off to U.C. Berkeley to get her degree, and earned a masters at U.C. San Francisco many years later. In 1959, she married Jack Steele, and it is as Gail Steele that most remember her. She became a pillar of the community, serving seven years as a Hayward City councilwoman and 18 years on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. She was a most respectable figure in her community. It is unlikely anyone ever suspected she was a scofflaw, least of all herself. I think considering her reputation it's safe to say she simply forgot the book.
Mrs. Steele died last year at the age of 83, the book still unreturned. She had lived in her house for 60 years and her son, Tim Steele, said that neatness was not her strongest point. Among her many possessions was a large library. When Tim Steele went through the collection, he found Dancing Star, and inside it had the Sonoma County Library mark and the due date, June 2, 1950. He did what his mother never did – brought it back. Technically, the fine should have been $3,888, but Mr. Steele was spared by a couple of factors. One was that the policy then was no fine could ever exceed $25. The other was that overdue book fees were dropped entirely back in 2019.
He might not have completely escaped fines as the Sonoma County Library, while not charging late fees, does charge to replace books that are lost. If a book has not been returned within 42 days of its due date, it is deemed lost and you have to pay the cost. However, Mr. Steele had one more escape hatch. If you return it later, the library will give you your money back. So if they had charged him, he would have been due an immediate refund. Unless, that is, the library decided to wait as long to issue the refund as the Steeles waited to return the book.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum Auctions Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper 17th July 2025
Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.