Somebody returned a copy of 'Beowulf' to a library 54 years after it was checked out. It would have accrued $1,000 in fines.

• Somebody returned a copy of "Beowulf" 54 years after it was checked out.
• At the time, the library charged 5 cents per day for overdue books.
• The library said the book would have accumulated a fine of about $1000, but it's now fine-free.

Somebody returned a copy of "Beowulf" to a public library a staggering 54 years after it was originally checked out.

Sewickley Public Library in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, said in an Instagram post that the book, a translation by Chauncey Brewster Tinker of the Old English epic poem, was checked out in January 1969.

At the time, the library imposed fines of 5 cents per day.

With some 20,000 days having passed since January 1969, the overdue book would have accrued a fine of about $1,000, not adjusted for inflation.