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Book Returned to Budapest Library After 43 Years

Hungary Today 2022.02.23.

A book has been returned to the Szabó Ervin Library of Budapest (FSZEK) 43 years after it was checked out, the institution wrote on its Facebook page.

A lady asked the library if they needed a copy of Are You Happy Now? by Judit G. Szabó, with a bookmark. She didn’t borrow the book, she just came across it.

The question of the title “Are you happy now?” seems to be fitting for the situation:

We can only say yes because it’s not every day that a book you borrowed such a long time ago turns up after all this time. In fact, we hope it has brought its original lender much happiness if they held on to it so tightly,”

the library wrote.

Fact

The Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library is the largest library network in Budapest. The library is now 13,000 m² and houses Budapest’s largest public collection of books with a capacity of 1,100,000 volumes. It is named after a Hungarian social scientist, librarian, and anarcho-syndicalist revolutionary.

“An interesting fact is that if a late payment fee were to be charged for the time elapsed (of course, there is no question of this), the bill would amount to HUF 861,850 (EUR 2,400),” added the library. There also might not even be anyone to collect the fee from.

The book is easily available for purchase. A second-hand copy costs around a thousand forints on online sites.

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Featured image: the Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library’s Facebook page


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