In March 1926, a book was checked out of the Ocean County Library and never returned - until now.  

When Mary Cooper’s mom passed away, she left behind boxes of items – left untouched for decades. 

“I’m looking through it, and I thought, 'Oh wow this is a library book,'” said Cooper.  

“So, I brought it in and over to the desk to the young lady. I said 'I think you guys might like to have this book,' and she said 'We don’t want donations of old books.' And I said 'I think you want to look at the book.'” 

The prized book, “Home-Made Toys for Girls and Boys” by Albert Neely Hall, was published in 1915 and checked out of the Bay Head branch on March 19, 1926, by Mary’s grandfather, Charles Tilton.  

“He had his own boat and built sailboats and made toys so I figured it must have been his," she says.

This summer, the Ocean County Library will be celebrating its 100th anniversary and it says this rare find could not have come at a better time. 

“To find something so old and within that time period. It’s a book about making toys for boys and girls. It’s just something you don’t see all the time,” said Sherri Taliercio, a librarian with the Ocean County Library.  

“Before I gave it to them, I said 'You’re not going to make me pay for this book, right?'” said Cooper.  

The treasured find now has a new home in the display case at the Toms River branch’s archive collection.  

Sadly, Mary’s grandfather died a year after he checked out the book, at the age of 42, in a dry dock boating accident while her mom was just a child. 

“I just look at him and I think what a good time I would have had with him,” she said.