Book hidden in fireplace returned to Australian library 150 years overdue - BBC News

It is thought an apprentice stonemason who worked on the Houses of Parliament in London borrowed it.

Image source, Kiama CouncilImage caption, A former apprentice stonemason who helped build the Houses of Parliament is thought to have borrowed the book in the late 1800s

A book borrowed 150 years ago has finally been returned to an Australian library, with the culprit linked to the Houses of Parliament in London.

Antiquities of Athens was borrowed from a local library in Kiama, a seaside town about 120km (75 miles) south of Sydney, some time in the mid-1870s.

The book on classic Greek architecture was stored in a tea chest hidden behind a boarded-up fireplace for decades before it was recently discovered by a family member.

Ross Simmons, 77, thinks his great-grandfather, John Simmons, might have borrowed the book to help with his career, having worked as an apprentice stonemason in Westminster in the mid-1800s before becoming an architect in Australia.