A first edition Charles Darwin book returned to its origins last week some 122 years late, when it was handed back to the Australian library to which it belongs.
Darwin’s Insectivorous Plants was borrowed from the Camden School of Arts lending library on Sydney’s outskirts sometime in 1889.
But it was only returned to the library, now part of Camden Council’s facilities, earlier in June.
The council has waived the estimated $$37,000 overdue fine clocked up over the near century-and-a-quarter loan, and is puzzling over the book’s history. “It’s been on a bit of a journey as far as we can tell,” said the council’s Linda Campbell. “Where it’s been we don’t know... Maybe down the back of a couch.” The book had been in the collection of veterinarian Ron Hyne for 50 years, and it was among items he donated in May. The university returned it to the library after noticing its borrowing stamp and the book is now set to be available to the reading public for viewing — although not borrowing.
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Galliano tells court of drink,drug addiction
Paris: Fallen fashion idol John Galliano on Wednesday told a Paris court where he faces charges of anti-Semitism that he is addicted to alcohol, sleeping tablets and valium. “I have an addiction. I am a recovering alcoholic, a recovering addict,” he said at the start of his trial on allegations that he subjected customers in a trendy Paris bar to a drunken anti-Semitic and racist rant.
The 50-year-old couturier — considered one of the finest fashion designers of his generation — faces up to six months in jail and a fine of $32,000 if convicted. Fashion house Christian Dior sacked him after the incident. The British designer was arrested on February 24 in a drunken state after a man and a woman alleged he subjected them to a stream of anti-Semitic abuse. —AFP