A long overdue book has been returned to the Ocean County Library – 99 years after it was first checked out.
Toms River resident Mary Cooper recently found the book, “Home-Made Toys for Girls and Boys,” while combing through a box of personal belongings left by her mother, who died decades ago.
As Cooper flipped through the pages, a pen and ink scrawl on the back cover caught her eye.
“Return this book on or before the last date stamped below,” the cover said, followed by the date, “3/17/26.”
“I’m looking through it, and I thought, ‘Oh wow this is a library book,’” Cooper told News 12 New Jersey. Then the lifelong patron of the Ocean County Library did the right thing: she returned it.
The jacket on the back of "Home-Made Toys for Girls and Boys" with the original due date.Courtesy of Ocean County Library
“So, I brought it in and over to the desk to the young lady. I said, ‘I think you guys might like to have this book,’ and she said, ‘We don’t want donations of old books.’ And I said, ‘I think you want to look at the book.’”
Sherri Taliercio, the public information officer for Ocean County Library, said the surprise return caused quite a stir among staff.
“Everybody kind of swarmed around her to get a look,” Taliericio said.
And here’s where the book becomes a story.
The book, written by A.Neely Hall and published in 1915, is a guide to making toys out of wood, metal, and throwaway household items. Cooper surmised it was her grandfather, a man she never had the chance to meet, who had borrowed the book.
Charles Tilton was born in Asbury Park in 1884 and worked on boats that sailed out of Barnegat Bay and Atlantic City. He was known as “Captain Charles Tilton, according to the obit that Ocean County librarians dug out after Cooper returned the book.
Tilton was active in the B.P.O.E Elks and Knights of Columbus in Asbury Park and “belonged to several yachting clubs,” according to the obit.
But his life was short. Tilton died in 1927, a year after borrowing “Home-Made Toys for Girls and Boys,” and before Mary Cooper was born.
“Mary never got to meet her grandfather, but she has this story,” Taliercio said. Cooper could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday.
The book was returned “in really good condition,” she said, and is now in a glass case in the archives room at the Toms River Library.
Ironically, the book was returned in the year that the Ocean County Library is celebrating it’s 100th anniversary.
“The timing, with this being the 100th anniversary, was kind of serendipitous,” Taliercio said.
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