According to BBC, the item was handed back to Rye Library in East Sussex, a county in the south-east of England, during an annual library amnesty that allows people to return overdue or lost books without being fined or judged.
The returned book, The Potter’s Book of Glaze Recipes by Emmanuel Cooper, is a guide for potters on creating ceramic glazes. Library staff said the due date stamped inside the book showed it should have been returned in June 1983.
East Sussex is a county in southern England, and its libraries run the amnesty scheme each year to encourage the return of long-overdue materials.
According to East Sussex County Council, the longest overdue item ever returned during such an amnesty remains the children’s book Havelok the Warrior by Ian Serraillier, which was returned 48 years later. It had originally been due back at Hastings Library in April 1975 before being returned in 2023.
This year’s amnesty has already seen thousands of returns. Since it began on 16 February, a total of 22,160 overdue loans and 683 lost books have been brought back or renewed across the county.
Nick Skelton, assistant director of communities at East Sussex County Council, said the scheme helps restore books to shelves while encouraging people to return items without fear of penalties.
“The annual amnesty is an effective way of reclaiming books without the public fearing being judged or fined,” he said. “The library service is simply happy to have them back.”
At the start of the amnesty, data showed that Hastings and Eastbourne libraries together had 13,454 overdue loans. The council also reported that 65.4% of overdue items were from the junior fiction section.
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