TOMS RIVER, N.J. — It’s something that anyone will have to do at least one point in their lives - downsize what they have, and purge what they don’t need.
A woman who is going through her late mother’s belongings made what could have been a costly discovery: a library book that was way, way overdue - by almost a century.
Mary Cooper, 81, has been going through the boxes of stuff that her late mother left behind. Cooper took the boxes with her when she downsized her own home, CNN reported.
Inside a box was a book called “Home-Made Toys for Girls and Boys.”
Cooper was going to give it to her son because he likes to build things.
She then realized it was checked out 99 years ago, about a year before her grandfather, Charles Tilton, who was a boatwright and carpenter, died, CNN reported.
The checkout date was from March 1926, WPVI reported.
Tilton had borrowed the book, which was published in 1911, from the Ocean County Library system in New Jersey.
The book shows how to build simple toys from wood, metal and other household items.
Cooper decided against giving it to her son and instead returned it to the Toms River branch of the county library.
She made the return just in time too, since the library system will be celebrating 100 years in September.
Luckily the library doesn’t charge fines for late returns, otherwise, library staff joked it could have cost Cooper $18,000 for the book, WPVI reported.
The book is now on display at the Toms River branch of the library.
© 2025 Cox Media Group
