When this book was last borrowed from the Vancouver Public Library, the Pattullo Bridge was just about to open up.
Now the Pattullo Bridge is due to be dismantled, and the book has just returned.
The book was last lent out in October 1937 and was due back on Oct. 26. Instead it returned to the library earlier this year, a mere 31,000 days late.
Back in 1937, the library imposed a fine of 1 cent per day a book is late, which would be about 310 dollars. However, at a certain point, a book is declared lost and a lost fee would have been imposed. Also, nowadays the library has done away with late fines.
"It’s most likely that this item was no longer considered part of our collection once we made the shift to a computerized lending system, so we probably wouldn’t have made the person pay anything anyway because it wasn’t attached to an account," a library spokesperson tells Vancouver Is Awesome.
It may be the longest a book has gone between being lent and returned in Vancouver. The next longest gap that they're aware of is 70 years, but it's difficult since books this old were never added to the digital system, notes the spokesperson.
The book is a collection of three plays, Mrs. McConaghy's Money, A Quiet Twelfth, and Collecting the Rent by a man with a name that might seem familiar to locals: Hugh Quinn.
Quinn was an Irish playwright and teacher in the early part of the 20th century. This is not to be confused with Quinn Hughes, who is the Canucks' star defenceman.
The three plays are mostly comical and farcical looks at working-class life in Belfast, including rent strikes and the unrest that has plagued the city for decades.
