Book hidden in fireplace returned to Australian library 150 years overdue
A book borrowed 150 years ago has finally been returned to an Australian library, with the culprit linked to the Houses of Parliament in London
A book borrowed 150 years ago has finally been returned to an Australian library, with the culprit linked to the Houses of Parliament in London. Antiquities of Athens was borrowed from a local library in Kiama, a seaside town about 120km (75 miles) south of Sydney, some time in the mid-1870s. The book on classic Greek architecture was stored in a tea chest hidden behind a boarded-up fireplace for decades before it was recently discovered by a family member. Ross Simmons, 77, thinks his great-grandfather, John Simmons, might have borrowed the book to help with his career, having worked as an apprentice stonemason in Westminster in the mid-1800s before becoming an architect in Australia.
The BriefWire