Man Avoids $12,055 Late Fee After Returning Magazine, Checked Out 132 Years Ago, During Public Library’s Fine Freeze

John Hanson recently returned a 1894 issue of ‘The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine’ to the Concord Public Library in New Hampshire

NEED TO KNOW

• John Hanson recently returned a September 1894 issue of a magazine to the Concord Public Library in New Hampshire
• The magazine was returned 48,220 days past its due date
• Hanson avoided a $12,055 late fee amid the library’s fine freeze

The chapter is closed on an overdue magazine at a New Hampshire library after it was returned 132 years after someone checked it out.

John Hanson recently returned the September 1894 issue of The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine to the Concord Public Library — 48,220 days past its scheduled due date — and avoided a $12,055 late fee.  

“We’ve witnessed many happy faces since announcing our fine freeze,” the Concord Public Library wrote in a Sept. 9 Facebook post.

The library continued, “Of course, we expected long overdue books to be returned, but certainly not something from the late 19th century!” 

Hanson, 84, doesn’t know how the magazine came into his possession.

“[This] issue of The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine has been hanging around John’s house for decades,” the library said of the Barrington resident. “Upon seeing the fine freeze article in the Concord Monitor, he decided that it was time to return it to its original home.” 

The library will not make the magazine available for checkout again, but noted it might be preserved and displayed in its Concord Room. 

Jennifer Needham, an archivist and outreach coordinator, told NBC News that Hanson arrived at the library while she was at the circulation desk.

“ ‘I have a book to return, and I bet you haven’t seen anything like this,’ ” she recalled Hanson telling her. “I honestly thought it was going to be from the 1980s, ’90s or 2000s. But then he pulled this out, and I was like, ‘Ooo, tell me more.’ ”

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Hanson pondered how the magazine landed in his hands. 

“I don’t know if it’s something that I got as a gift that was given to me. Or did I pick this up from a pile of free books on the side of the road to read? I honestly don’t know,” the Concord native told NBC News. 

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