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WEKU
WEKU
The Associated Press

An overdue library book makes a return trip to the shelves — 119 years later

James Clerk Maxwell New Bedford Electricity Massachusetts West Virginia
New Bedford Public Library Director Olivia Melo on Friday points to a stamp dating to 1882 when the New Bedford library system acquired the book. (Peter Pereira/The Standard-Times via AP)

BOSTON — On Feb. 14, 1904, someone curious about the emerging possibilities of a key force of nature checked out James Clerk Maxwell's "An Elementary Treatise on Electricity" from the New Bedford Free Public Library.

It would take 119 years and the sharp eyes of a librarian in West Virginia before the scientific text finally found its way back to the Massachusetts library.

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