The San Francisco Public Library's Presidio branch received a pleasant surprise in the mail today when a patron returned a book that was due back in November of 1974, along with its original due date slip. The book in question is a first edition copy of American Cooking: Creole and Acadian by Peter Feibleman, which boasts a delightful cover. Looks like we'll have to take up Creole cooking now by the looks of it.

Where's Mr. Bookman when you need him?

Update: Bay City News (via SF Appeal) has more information on the returned book, including some great quotes from Presidio branch manager Megan Anderson, who SFist can attest is the most awesome librarian around. Anderson said that the library has another copy of the cookbook in its collection, so they're not going to pursue any sort of fine:

"No fine, no harm, no foul," she said. "At this point there wouldn't be any fine for a book that was probably borrowed by a parent or grandparent."

Anderson did find some pleasure, however, in speculating on which recipes the borrower might have cooked.

"It looks really cool. 'Voodoo Soup' is one of the recipes here," she noted, flipping through the pages. "Here's a stain on gumbo--I bet they made gumbo."

[SFPL on Facebook]