Saved Again - Library Book That Survived Fire Returned 100 Years Overdue

This book has a history of living dangerously. Nevertheless, it is finally back home in the St. Paul Public Library, even if the library had no idea it was missing.

The book is Famous Composers vol. 2 by Nathan Haskell Dole. The edition was from 1902. It has shown up at auction a few times early in the last century but not since 1919. That's not because of rarity. It's because it is not a very valuable book. Each of the volumes can be had in good condition on AbeBooks for $50, or $12 for vol. 1 in fair condition. If the person who was holding onto this book for a century thought this would one day make them rich, they were badly mistaken.

Dole was a writer, editor, and for a while, literary advisor for the book's publisher, Thomas Y. Crowell. The book describes the lives and works of all the notable composers at that time, Beethoven, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Chopin and many more.

The book made its way back to St. Paul after being dropped off at another library part of the interlibrary loan system. It was returned by a patron who discovered it when looking through their mother's effects. When a local librarian examined the book, there were markings that indicated its most likely history.

Two dates are stamped on the inside back cover and adjacent page. One is June 4, 1914, the other January 17, 1916. Those dates are significant because of what happened between them. A fire in 1915 burned down the library, taking most of its 158,000 books with it. Fortunately, a new library was already under construction, so it was able to open the following year. Those two dates indicate that the book was likely first added to the library collection in 1914, and then re-entered in 1916 as part of the post-fire new library collection. So, how did this book survive the fire? The most likely answer is that it was one of the books that was out on loan at the time of the fire.

The markings in the back probably tell us the rest of the story as well. It is stamped with numerous dates when the book was borrowed. The number of entries indicates this was a fairly popular book. However, those entries come to a complete halt in August 1919. The abrupt halt is what has led the librarians to conclude that it was never returned after being checked out in 1919. It's being long missing is corroborated by the library having no records of this book ever having been in the library's collection.

It's not clear what the St. Paul library plans to do with this book now that it's back, but apparently it will not be put back in circulation.