Library books overdue by 116 years returned in 'excellent condition'

A man has returned his late grandfather's library books which were overdue by 116 years.

Peter O'Sullivan's grandfather, Walter Griffith Owen, took out Milton's Paradise Lost and Shakespeare's King Lear in 1910.

A note inside showed they came from former Llanrwst Reading Room & Library in Conwy county, and were originally "lent for one week".

The note continued that should a book "be required for a second week, application should be made to the caretaker. Fee, one penny per week".

Peter said he was initially concerned about a possible fine, as they had been on loan for in excess of 6,000 weeks.

There were 12 pennies in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound before decimalisation in 1971.

Peter returned them to Llanrwst library but admitted when he got there he "did wonder about the fine".

"I had worked out how much I would have owed in old pennies as a couple of hundred pounds," he explained.

"But I had forgotten to add the compound interest, so it could have been thousands.

"I was just glad to return them because it was the right thing to do."

Peter found the books hidden behind others on a shelf at his mother's home in Rhos on Sea, Conwy county.

His grandfather settled in Llandudno and worked as a shoe shop manager after the First World War where he had served as a dispatch rider before being injured by shrapnel.

During the Second World War, he became a member of the Home Guard and patrolled Conwy estuary in the event of an enemy invasion.

Peter said library staff "wanted to give the books to the archive department to investigate further".

They were originally donated to the old library in the 1890s by English industrialist Benjamin Armitage.

It is hoped they will be displayed in Llanrwst Library in the near future as part of a cultural heritage exhibition.

Manager Medi Ashton thanked Peter for their return and described them as being in "excellent condition".