Book amnesty sees title from 1983 returned to library

A BOOK loaned from the East Sussex library service almost 43 years ago has been returned to the Rye branch as part of an annual amnesty.

The Potter’s Book of Glaze Recipes by Emmanuel Coope has been handed in to the library having been originally due back in June 1983. The due date stamped on the inside cover of the book is so old that the title is no longer registered on the county council’s library system.

It was one of many overdue items that the library service was trying to reclaim in this year’s amnesty which saw the county council waive fines if books were returned before the end of March.

East Sussex County Council’s assistant director of communities, Nick Skelton said: “Since the amnesty began on Monday, February 16, a total of 22,160 overdue loans and 683 lost books have been returned or renewed. It is great to have these titles back on library shelves and available once again for even more people across the county to borrow and enjoy.

“The annual amnesty is an effective way of reclaiming books without the public fearing being judged or fined for returning overdue books – the library service is simply happy to have them back. It is also an effective way of helping to ensure we are continuously striving to provide a comprehensive and quality range of items for loan at all our libraries in East Sussex.”

The majority of overdue loans (65.4%) were in junior fiction at the start of this year’s amnesty and Hastings and Eastbourne libraries had a combined total of 13,454 overdue loans.

The longest overdue item ever returned during the amnesty was missing from bookshelves for 48 years. Havelok The Warrior by Ian Serraillier, which was taken out from Hastings library, should have been returned in April 1975 and was returned in 2023.

Details of East Sussex libraries, information about renewing library books and access to online library services can be found at www.eastsussex.gov.uk/libraries

ENDS

Rebecca Durrant

Thursday, 21 May 2026