Better late than never: book returned to Winnipeg library 50+ years after being taken out

A book last borrowed in 1968 has made its way back to the Winnipeg Public Library collection.

The library shared that a copy of Sarah Binks by Paul Hiebert was recently returned to the St. James Assiniboia branch, more than 50 years overdue.

The book’s author was a University of Manitoba chemistry professor, said the library, adding that the book won the Stephen Leacock Medal for Canadian Literary Humor in 1948.

A synopsis from Penguin Randomhouse says in part describes Sarah Binks as a “critical biography of the wholly mythical but irrepressible and irresistible Sarah Binks, ‘the Sweet Songstress of Saskatchewan,’ who gave her life to poetry and died a martyr to the muse.”

Winnipeg Public Library thanked the person who returned the book, and said they faced no late fees.

It’s fines nowadays max out at $11 for materials borrowed from adult collections, $4.50 for materials borrowed from children or teen collections.