A LIBRARY BOOK overdue by nearly 50 years has been returned to a university library in southwest Ohio.

The University of Dayton says that a former student who borrowed History of the Crusades in 1967 has sent it back with an apology for the late return.

The university says James Phillips of Minnesota apparently checked out the book as a freshman before leaving college to join the US Marines.

Phillips says the book and other belongings must have been gathered from his dormitory room and sent to his parents’ house where they remained until his parents died.

Phillips recently found the book in a box of belongings forwarded to him by his brother.

With the book, he enclosed a note apologising for the delay in returning it:

“Please accept my apologies for the absence of the enclosed book History of the Crusades. I apparently checked it out when I was a freshman student and somehow it got misplaced all these years,” the note reads.

When contacted by the university Phillips apologised for the late return.

University officials say they won’t be charging Phillips the late fee that would have been about $350 (about €440).

- With reporting from Cormac Fitzgerald

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