London Library books taken in 1950s found in locked wardrobe

Historical volumes more than 50 years overdue discovered by antiquarian bookseller while clearing a house

Plague, astrology and witchcraft are probably among the last things you might want to find when clearing the house of a relative who has recently died. But a collection of 18th-century tomes on these subjects discovered in Wimbledon by an antiquarian bookseller has been welcomed by the London Library, which will be getting them back more than half a century after they were borrowed from the shelves.

The rare volumes are believed to have been removed from the London Library in the late 1950s. They were found by a book dealer at the back of a locked wardrobe when he was called in by a family to look at the book collection of their deceased relative. Patrick Marrin of Marrin’s Bookshop soon realised that attempts had been made to remove the stamps of the London Library from the volumes.

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