A book borrowed from an Australian library in the 1870s has finally made its way home—and its journey back involved a sealed fireplace, a tea crate and roughly 150 years of mystery.

The book, Antiquities of Athens, was published in 1858 and was part of the original collection of about 1,000 books held by Kiama Library in New South Wales when it opened in 1872. The volume was marked as No. 506 in the library’s collection.

During renovations of a house in Kiama, local man Ross Simmons discovered the book hidden inside a tea crate that had been bricked into a sealed fireplace. The book had suffered some water damage, but it had survived its extraordinary hiding place.

Simmons believes the book may have been borrowed by his great-great-grandfather, John Simmons, who owned the house around that period. However, the library’s original borrowing journal has been lost, so nobody can prove who actually checked it out—or why it ended up sealed inside the fireplace.

The overdue bill would have been hilarious by modern standards. The book contains the library’s old three-pence-per-week overdue rate, which would amount to approximately A$28,000 (about US$19,500) after adjusting for inflation. Fortunately, the library no longer charges late fees—and officials have no way of identifying the original borrower anyway.

The strangest detail may be the old library rules printed inside the book. In the 1870s, households needed at least three people who were known to be able to read to qualify for borrowing privileges, and people were prohibited from borrowing books while intoxicated.

The book will now become part of Kiama Library’s local history collection rather than being loaned out again.

After approximately a century and a half, the world’s slowest library return is finally complete—and this time, the library isn’t taking any chances with its next due date.