Long overdue: book returned to library 63 years later

Warwickshire library staff have spoken of their "amazement" at the return of an overdue book - more than 63 years after it was first taken out.

The children's book The Adventures of Pinocchio was supposed to be returned on New Year's Eve, 1950. Staff at the library thought it was lost forever.

But during an eight-day amnesty on fines this month, it was finally brought back to the library.

Joanna Grindle said in her 34 years as a librarian in Rugby, she has never known a book so overdue.

If the book been been returned after the amnesty ended, the unnamed library user would have faced a penalty of £5.22 - which is the council's cap for late returns.

But if the cap wasn't in place, based on the council's current charges of 18p per day, the reader could have faced paying more than £4,000.

The world's most overdue books:

• Britain's most overdue library book was 'Good Words for 1888' - an astonishing 123 years overdue when it was unearthed at a historic house in the Lake District in December 2011

• The world´s largest fine for an overdue library book is $345.14 (£203.29) for the poetry book 'Days and Deeds'. It was checked out of a library in Illinois, USA in April 1955 and returned 47 years later

• In 2010 teenager Jory Enck was jailed for failing to return a study guide to his local library in Texas. It was 3 years overdue. The teenager was released the same day after a $200 bail fee was paid