New Hampshire man dodges $12k fine after returning magazine to library 132 years la

Anyone who regularly uses a library will have been hit by a late fee at some point. Usually it’s just a couple of bucks, but occasionally you find a book that’s fallen down the back of the sofa that librarians have been hunting for for the best part of a year that’s amassed maybe $50 in fines. Eek.

So spare a thought for New Hampshire man John Hanson, 84, who discovered the September 1894 issue of The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine in his possession, with the card indicating it was 48,220 days past its return date to the Concord Public Library. As per the library’s rules, this meant he was staring down the barrel of a $12,055 fine.