47 év után visszahozott könyvek: angol érettségi javítás az „Angol érettségi javítás” témájához

Egy könyvet 47 évvel a kikölcsönzése után juttattak vissza egy minnesotai könyvtárba, miután a kötetet egy régi ládában találták meg. A visszaküldő névtelen maradt, de levelet és 200 dolláros adományt is mellékelt.

Az eset azonban nem egyedülálló: a könyvtárak történetében ennél jóval hosszabb késedelmekre is akad példa, köztük egy 150 év után visszakerült ausztrál kötetre és egy 288 évvel később visszaadott könyvre.

A 47 év után visszaküldött könyv története

An anonymous person checked out a book 47 years ago from the library and in an act that’s sure to bless them with an extra helping of good karma, they finally decided to return it.

Earlier this month, Karen Rodricks, a library services supervisor at the library in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, opened a package that came in the mail and it contained a book from the ‘70s, “Chilton’s Foreign Car Repair Manual.”

In an attempt to avoid a gargantuan fine that may have accrued over nearly 50 years, the person who sent the book did so anonymously. Although they did include a thoughtful letter and a $200 donation to the library.

Rodricks told Minnesota Public Radio that it was the most overdue book that she’s ever seen make its way back to the library. “It occasionally happens, but what is so delightful about this book is the note,” she said.

A mellékelt levél

The note that accompanied the old car manual read:

In the mid 1970s, I was living in Lake Elmo and working on an old Mercedes Benz. I took out this book for reference. A few months later, I moved and apparently the book got packed up in the move. 47 years later, I found it in a trunk with other interesting things from the 1970s. It’s a little overdue, but I thought you might want it back.

My apologies to anyone in Lake Elmo who was working on an old Benz in the last 47 years. I probably can’t afford the overdue charge, but I will send you enough for another book.

A levél szerint a könyvet az 1970-es évek közepén kölcsönözték ki, amikor a tulajdonosa Lake Elmóban élt, és egy régi Mercedes Benz javításához keresett útmutatót. A kötet később egy költözés során más tárgyakkal együtt egy ládába került.

Miért nem kellett megfizetni a késedelmi díjat?

The good news for the person who sent the book is that even though they did so anonymously, it wasn’t necessary.

The library no longer charges fines for overdue books, especially those checked out during the Ford administration.

“We haven’t had daily fines for overdue materials for a long time, but we still charge a replacement fee if an item is lost or damaged,” the Washington County Library wrote on Facebook.

“Back in January we also eliminated what was called a ‘processing fee’ related to extremely overdue items, so now there are no charges for materials that are returned late, just those that are lost or damaged.”

A könyvtár tehát már nem számít fel napi késedelmi díjat, és az igen régen kikölcsönzött, késve visszahozott könyvek után sem követel külön összeget. Pótlási díj csak akkor merülhet fel, ha egy kötet elveszett vagy megsérült.

However, the library will happily keep the $200 donation. “The library always needs money, and we can always, we probably will put it towards books,” Rodricks told CBS.

Rodricks believes that the person’s decision to return the book shows they are a good citizen. “It expresses that he valued having access to this book 47 years ago and he values the library enough to return it,” she said. “He just took the time, and it means the most to us. We hope other people feel this way about the library, too.”

A könyv többé nem kölcsönözhető

She told CBS that unfortunately, the “Chilton’s Foreign Car Repair Manual” isn’t in good enough condition to be lent again, but she’s happy to keep the note.

Let’s just hope that there’s been no one in Lake Elmo with a broke-down Mercedes who couldn’t get around for a few decades because the Chilton’s manual was checked out of the library.

Egy könyv 43 év után a budapesti Szabó Ervin Könyvtárban

A book has been returned to the Szabó Ervin Library of Budapest (FSZEK) 43 years after it was checked out, the institution wrote on its Facebook page.

A lady asked the library if they needed a copy of Are You Happy Now? by Judit G. Szabó, with a bookmark. She didn’t borrow the book, she just came across it.

The question of the title “Are you happy now?” seems to be fitting for the situation: We can only say yes because it’s not every day that a book you borrowed such a long time ago turns up after all this time. In fact, we hope it has brought its original lender much happiness if they held on to it so tightly,” the library wrote.

Az intézmény szerint a könyv 43 évvel a kikölcsönzése után került vissza. A kötetet nem az a személy vitte be, aki eredetileg kikölcsönözte, hanem egy nő, aki rátalált, és egy könyvjelzővel együtt felajánlotta a könyvtárnak.

A Szabó Ervin Könyvtár adatai

The Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library is the largest library network in Budapest.

The library is now 13,000 m² and houses Budapest’s largest public collection of books with a capacity of 1,100,000 volumes.

It is named after a Hungarian social scientist, librarian, and anarcho-syndicalist revolutionary.

“An interesting fact is that if a late payment fee were to be charged for the time elapsed (of course, there is no question of this), the bill would amount to HUF 861,850 (EUR 2,400),” added the library.

There also might not even be anyone to collect the fee from. The book is easily available for purchase. A second-hand copy costs around a thousand forints on online sites.

A 150 év után visszakerült ausztrál könyv

“The Antiquities of Athens” had likely been missing from an Australian library since the 1870s. Staffers say its recovery is “an unlikely story of survival (of the book) and redemption (of the borrower)”

Kiama Library While renovating their home some 30 years ago, an Australian family found an old tea crate that had been sealed inside their fireplace. Inside was a book called The Antiquities of Athens.

The volume gathered dust for decades. But recently, Ross Simmons started flipping through it, and he noticed the words “Kiama Public Library” stamped inside.

The 77-year-old realized that someone, perhaps a relative, had checked it out long ago. The Antiquities of Athens was overdue. In fact, it had been overdue for approximately 150 years.

Simmons brought the book to the library in Kiama, a town in New South Wales located about two hours from Sydney.

“I was looking at it wondering what he was going to tell me,” Hudson explains to Ros Childs of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). “He was returning it to its rightful place.”

A könyvet egy Kiama városában élő család találta meg egy teásládában, amelyet korábban egy kandallóba falaztak. A kötetet évtizedekig senki sem vizsgálta meg alaposan, míg Ross Simmons fel nem fedezte benne a Kiama Public Library bélyegzőjét.

A kötet állapota és tartalma

Apart from some water damage, the book is in “remarkably good condition,” according to the library.

The returned edition was published in 1858 and contains 70 black-and-white illustrations, including some pages that fold out to show larger diagrams.

The book contains historical information, ornate artwork and diagrams.

“It's only a small book and has a bit of weather damage, because the tea chest probably wasn't the best place to keep it, but people would still like to browse through it,” Ms Hudson said.

A könyv az ókori görög építészethez kapcsolódó anyagokat tartalmaz, és a kiadás 70 fekete-fehér illusztrációt, valamint kihajtható, nagyobb ábrákat bemutató oldalakat is őriz.

A Kiama Library 19. századi szabályai

Since the library’s establishment in 1872, no book had ever gone missing for so many years and then found its way back.

The library had fewer than 1,000 texts in its early years, and records show that The Antiquities of Athens was the 506th title in its collection.

Staffers don’t know exactly when the book was checked out, but they’re guessing it was sometime in the 1870s.

The library’s 19th-century bylaws can be found inside the book.

According to the library’s early bylaws, which were emblazoned inside The Antiquities of Athens, patrons were allowed to check out books for one month.

They would be fined 3 pence for every week beyond that period.

According to a statement from the library, 150 years of late fees would add up to 28,000 Australian dollars (nearly $20,000) when adjusted for inflation.

The library’s bylaws include several curious clauses.

Most households were only allowed to borrow one book at a time, but an exception would be granted if six members were “known to be able to read.”

Another rule stipulated that patrons “in a state of intoxication” who tried to check out a book would “not be entitled to receive one.”

Anyone intoxicated was not allowed to borrow a book, and anyone behaving in a disorderly manner would be fined at least five shillings per offence.

Book loans were restricted to one volume per person, but exceptions could be made to increase that if a household had six members who could prove they could read.

A 19. századi szabályzat szerint egy háztartás általában egyszerre csak egy könyvet kölcsönözhetett. Kivételt jelenthetett, ha a háztartás hat tagja bizonyítani tudta, hogy képes olvasni.

Az ittas állapotban érkező látogatók nem kaphattak kölcsön könyvet, a rendbontó magatartást pedig legalább öt shillinges bírsággal sújtották.

Miért nem lehetett azonosítani az eredeti kölcsönzőt?

In the 1870s, a librarian would have recorded the name of the borrower in a log. Unfortunately, no such log survives today.

The library journal from the 1870s that recorded who borrowed a book and when had been lost.

“Unfortunately, we have a missing link. There’s nothing in the book that tells us who the last borrower was,” Hudson said.

But Simmons thinks that the book, which covers classical Greek architecture, may have belonged to his relative, John Simmons, who became an architect after immigrating to Australia in 1857.

“I’m making an assumption,” Simmons tells the Associated Press’ Rod McGuirk. “He was in residence in the cottage around about that time, and his children were probably too young.”

Az elveszett kölcsönzési napló miatt nem lehetett megállapítani, hogy pontosan ki vitte el a könyvet. Ross Simmons feltételezése szerint a kötet valamelyik rokonához, John Simmonshoz kerülhetett, aki 1857-ben érkezett Ausztráliába, majd építész lett.

A könyv új helye

The book is no longer available for loan and will instead be added to the library's collection of significant items.

Even so, patrons will no longer be allowed to check it out.

Instead, the book will join the library’s local history collection, where interested readers can view it in person.

The book will be stored in a special box that will preserve its condition.

“We have a place for keeping these little treasures in the library and making sure the community members know about our heritage and our culture, so it's a lovely story,” Ms Hudson said.

“We have our Local Studies collection and when we store things we make sure they're in archival quality boxes so we can keep it in good condition.”

“We’re not going to allow it to go back out again. We don't want to wait another 150 years for this book to be returned,” Hudson said.

A könyv a helytörténeti gyűjteménybe kerül, ezért a jövőben megtekinthető lesz, de kölcsönözni már nem lehet. A könyvtár archiválási célra alkalmas dobozban őrzi, hogy megvédje a további károsodástól.

A világ leghosszabb késedelme: 288 év

The Guinness world record for the most overdue library book is held by one returned to Sidney Sussex College.

It was borrowed in 1668 and returned 288 years later.

“Scriptores rerum Germanicarum septentrionalium, vicinorumque populorum diversi” [Various historians of the Northern Germans and of neighbouring peoples]

Borrowed by Colonel Robert Walpole (father of Sir Robert Walpole, regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain).

Walpole apparently borrowed the book in 1667-8, when he was an undergraduate at Trinity College, according to his biographer, Dr J. H. Plumb.

There are no surviving records of loans from that time, so the exact date he borrowed it is uncertain.

Dr Plumb discovered it while he was working on the biography among the papers at Houghton Hall in Norfolk.

He returned it to Sidney Sussex on 16 January 1956, at the suggestion of Walpole’s descendant, the 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley.

It was therefore at least 287 years overdue.

A Guinness-rekordot egy olyan könyv tartja, amelyet a Sidney Sussex College számára 288 évvel a kikölcsönzése után adtak vissza. A kötetet a 17. században Colonel Robert Walpole kölcsönözte ki, majd 1956. január 16-án került vissza az intézményhez.

További rendkívül késői visszavételek

Egy első világháború előtti iskolai könyv

A book borrowed from a school library before the first world war has finally been returned - more than a century overdue.

A copy of Poetry of Byron was found by a man in Carmarthenshire, south Wales, who felt it should be returned to St Bees School, near Whitehaven, Cumbria, where it had been lent out to a schoolboy.

Inside the blue clothbound book the name Leonard Ewbank is written, along with the date 25 September 1911.

Ewbank, who was born in 1893, was a pupil of St Bees between 1902 and 1911, before going on to study at Queen’s College, Oxford.

Records show that, despite his poor eyesight, he was recruited to the 15th Border Regiment in 1915 to fight in the first world war.

He was killed in battle on 23 February 1916 by a bullet to the head and is buried at the Railway Dugouts burial ground in Ypres, Belgium, a cemetery that contains the graves of 2,463 troops.

Ewbank is commemorated on the school’s roll of honour as “an Englishman, brave, honest and loyal”.

A kötetben Leonard Ewbank neve és 1911. szeptember 25-i dátum szerepelt. A diák később Oxfordban tanult, majd az első világháborúban szolgált, és 1916-ban elesett a harcokban.

The school was “honoured” to have the book returned, said the headteacher, Andrew Keep.

Keep told the BBC: “It’s incredible to think that a piece of St Bees’ history has found its way back to us after all these years.”

Helsinki és Orkney

In May, a book borrowed from a library in Helsinki was returned 84 years overdue.

A Finnish translation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s historical novel The Refugees had been due on 26 December 1939, a month after the Soviet invasion of Finland, so it “might not have been the first thing on the borrower’s mind”, said Heini Strand, a librarian at Helsinki’s Oodi central library.

In July, Canoe Building in Glass-Reinforced Plastic by Alan Byde was returned to Orkney Library more than 47 years late, after being found during a house clearance.

The library’s John Peterson said: “Fortunately we don’t charge overdue fines.”

A helsinki könyvtárba egy Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-regény finn fordítását 84 év késéssel adták vissza. Az Orkney Library pedig egy ház kiürítése során megtalált, üvegszál-erősítésű műanyagból készült kenuépítésről szóló könyvet kapott vissza több mint 47 év után.

Könyvtári amnesztia és bírságmentes visszavétel

Since this year's amnesty began on 16 February, a total of 22,160 overdue loans and 683 lost books have been returned or renewed.

Nick Skelton, the council's assistant director of communities, said it was great to have the titles back on shelves for people to borrow and enjoy.

“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.”

When the amnesty began, data showed that Hastings and Eastbourne libraries had a combined total of 13,454 overdue loans.

The council also said that 65.4% of all the overdue loans were from the junior fiction section.

A könyvtári amnesztia célja, hogy az olvasók szégyenkezés és bírságtól való félelem nélkül visszahozhassák a késedelmes könyveket. Egy ilyen program során több tízezer kölcsönzés rendeződhet, és a visszakerült kötetek ismét elérhetővé válhatnak más olvasók számára.

A késedelmes könyvek közös tanulságai

Officials also want to ensure the community knows that Kiama Library no longer charges late fees.

When patrons have an overdue book, they’ll need to return it before they can check out anything new.

The library adds, “We will suspend your borrowing privileges if an item is not returned-for 150 years if necessary.”

“We have a long history of libraries in our local government area and the library has been moved around town a number of times,” Ms Hudson said.

“We have a lovely home now, but libraries have been an important place in our community for a long time.”

A hosszú késedelmek történetei azt is megmutatják, hogy a könyvtárak nem csupán kölcsönzési helyek, hanem helyi történelmi emlékek őrzői. A visszakerült kötetek gyakran egykori olvasókról, családokról, költözésekről, háborús időszakokról és a közösség változásairól is tanúskodnak.

tags: #book #returned #after #47 #years #angol