A bit late: Book checked out 150 years ago found bricked in fireplace

Imagine the fine this late return could bring. A book checked out 150 years ago has finally been returned to a public library in Australia. It was discovered bricked in a fireplace. Read more trending news Ross Simmons found the book, “Antiquities of Athens,” during home renovations. It was in a tea crate that was bricked into a sealed fireplace, The Associated Press reported. The book was published in 1858, about 14 years before Kiama Library opened in 1872. It was No. 508 of the library’s original 1,000 books. The library records of who borrowed books in the 1870s have been lost, so it is not known if one of Simmons’ relatives was in fact the person who checked it out.He thinks his great-great-grandfather borrowed it, since he owned the house where the book was found. “I’m making an assumption. He was in residence in the cottage around about that time and his children were probably too young,” Simmons said, according to the AP. The penalty for returning a book late, according to the