Better late than never: Library gets book 47 years overdue

SAN FRANCISCO – A book nearly five decades overdue has been returned to the San Francisco Public Library.

The copy of Eldridge Cleaver’s memoir “Soul On Ice” was due back at the Eureka Valley branch Dec. 9, 1970, making it 47 years, four months and 29 days late. The library’s late fee would’ve been $1,731.70 if it didn’t cap the fine at $10.01.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports the paperback’s cover is detached from its spine and there’s a hole in the title page.

Branch manager Anne Vannucchi told the Chronicle last week she’d like to know who the library patron is so she can get the story behind the returned book.

A man at another branch last year returned his great-grandmother’s book titled “Forty Minutes Late” — but it was more than 100 years late.

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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com