Mystery book returned to Stratford library from Budapest possibly decades after being taken out

ONE borrower must have had a guilty conscience after a book was returned from a far off land apparently decades after it was taken out.

Staff said the arrival of the book on cats sent from Budapest, Hungary’s capital city, at Stratford Library late last month was a “complete mystery”.

Describing how it came about, Aimee Hawkins, reader development librarian at Warwickshire Library and Information Service, said: “We received a very mysterious parcel in the post at Stratford Library. Inside was a book called Colourpoint Longhair and Himalayan Cats, which had been sent all the way from Budapest, and inside the book was an old Warwickshire Libraries stamp. A very overdue book, indeed. This charming, old edition caught our attention not only for its international journey but also due to the photos of extremely grumpy looking cats inside.”

She continued: “We aren’t sure who sent the book back or how long ago it was taken out. We believe it was most likely taken out before library systems were computerised and were still using the card catalogues as the book was published in 1971.

“We have no record of the book on our current system - so it’s a complete mystery. And apart from the stamp inside identifying it as belonging to our library service, there are no dates, labels or stamps.”

“It is very unusual for us to have a book returned to us this late, and especially from somewhere so far away,” added Ms Hawkins.

However, guilt can mean that overdue books do disappear.

“Taking out books and not returning them is a very common problem within the library service. I think this might be because once a book is quite overdue, people are too ashamed or scared to bring the book back. It’s a problem with libraries across the country, unfortunately.”

Colourpoint Longhair and Himalayan Cats was published in 1971 by Geoge Allen and Unwin.

Old copies can still be found on eBay and charity shops and generally sell for around £20.

The author is credited as SM Manton, and a quick bit of research reveals the amazing background of the writer.

Her full name was Sidnie Milana Manton (4th May 1902 to 2nd January 1979), who was an outstanding and highly influential British zoologist.

Educated at Cambridge, she came top of her class in 1925, but was not awarded the prize that that position usually brings, because women were not at that time officially members of Cambridge University.

She did pioneering research on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia – the first work of its kind on a coral reef. But she is best known for her seminal work on arthropods – invertebrates with a hard exoskeleton, such as beetles and lobsters.

Her botanist sister Irene was also a brilliant scientist.

Sidnie married fellow zoologist Professor John Harding, keeper of zoology at the British Museum, and the couple had two children, Elizabeth and Martyn.

An obituary published in March 1979 in the journal Nature includes an explanation on Sidnie’s dedication to cats: “The arthropods were not the only animals in her life. Her home and garden housed a veritable menagerie of birds and mammals which she cared for each day. Over a period of 21 years she developed the long-haired Colourpoint cats with such delightful temperaments and exported kittens to all points of the globe. The history of her Mingchiu cats is recounted in her book Colourpoint, Longhair and Himalayan Cats. This work ran parallel to her arthropod studies and brought her world-wide acclaim from an entirely different public.

“All this while at the centre of a delightful household, cooking superb meals, a delightful person with a lively conversation and an understanding smile.”