A rare book has been returned to an Irish library – 82 years after it was borrowed.
The White Owl was first taken out of the public library in Gaoth Dobhair, Co Donegal, in 1937.
Staff could hardly believe their eyes on Friday when the book penned by Anni MP Smithson was returned.
Relatives of the person who had borrowed it were having a house
clearance at their home in Falcarragh in the west of the county when they came across it.
A note inside from Donegal County Council warns people to return books within 14 days and to report if there has been any disease in the house where it has been.
Copies of the book, which was first published by The Talbot Press in both Dublin and Cork, are on sale for almost €300.
Smithson’s novels feature in Brian Friel’s Dancing At Lughnasa and between 1989 and 1990 the Mercier Press reprinted several of her works.
She was a Dublin-born Protestant who converted to Catholicism in 1907 and became a fervent republican and nationalist.
Smithson was a member of Cumann na mBan and also campaigned for Sinn Fein in the 1918 general election.
A spokesman for Donegal County Libraries said of the return, “Better late than never”.
Thankfully for the family who returned the novel, the Government scrapped library fines for late book returns on January 1 this year.
And with the average price being 5c per day, the fine on The White Owl would have been in the region of €1,280.
