$300,000 Library Book Fines In The Name Of The Earliest US President George Washington
April 20th, 2010 - 8:29 pm ICT by Pen Men At WorkApril 20, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): Librarians in New York’s oldest library have discovered an unexpected borrower with books in arrears. The borrower being discussed is George Washington, the initial President of an independent America.
Washington rented two books from the New York Society Library in 1789 but did not remember to return them.
Changed for inflation, he has since chalked up $300,000 in fines for being some 220 years late.
The New York Society Library has enunciated that it will not chase the fine. It would merely like to receive the books back.
Washington allegedly never uttered a falsification. However, it appears as if George Washington was not without his flaws.
On 5 October, 1789, the first president borrowed two books from what was then the only library in Manhattan. The first book was titled ‘Law of Nations’. It was an exposition on intercontinental relations. The second book was a volume of discussion transcriptions from Britain’s House of Commons.
George Washington did not even worry to sign his name in the borrower’s ledger. An assistant merely scribbled ‘president’ next to the title to illustrate who had taken them out.
The two digests were due back one month later but were never given back. They have been mounting up late fees ever since. Librarians divulged the transgression as they were digitizing the library’s ledger from that time.
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