Through a serious case of serendipity, the St. Paul Library is feeling Supercallifragilisticexpialidocious after a first edition of Mary Poppins has returned home.
Almost exactly 40 years ago, the library discarded the 1934 classic presumably to never be seen again.
Fast forward to 2018, and Chuck Taylor discovered the book in a donation box marked for the Next to New Store, a second-hand store that falls under the SPAN umbrella in St. Paul.
Taylor says he received the book back in March, but didn't recall who made the donation. It took them a while to check to see if the book was in fact a first edition. When they knew it was, there was only one thing left to do.
"It was originally the property of the library. It was discarded in June of 1978, so we thought it made sense to give it back to them in June of 2018. Exactly 40 years after it was removed from their collection it has gone back into them," Taylor explained.
"It makes poetic justice to give it back to them."
The inside flap of the book has a "discarded" St. Paul Library stamp on it, easily proving that it was once in the library.
The book's destination after it was taken off the shelf remains a mystery.
Taylor says the Next to New Store has three first editions and one third edition of other popular novels in its display case right now.
"People don't know what they have when they donate it," he remarked.
On the library side, employee Dwayne Olson was on-hand to welcome Mary Poppins back into the fold. A short presentation was made on June 29.
Olson said they had no concrete plans for the book, other than it going on display in the locked bookshelf alongside other rare editions.
He said it's impossible to put a price tag on the book.
"Oh I don't know. I couldn't even put a price on it . . . I would think it would be museum worthy."
Olson shared a story about how one man came in with a donation of books that didn't really catch anyone's eye. Then, he got to the bottom of the box and discovered a third edition book from 1891.
The library also possesses a first edition of The Bobbsey Twins, from 1904.
"What I'm thinking we're going to have to do is start putting these (books) into a deposit box or something. But if we do that, nobody gets to look at them," Olson said.
Right now, the St. Paul Library's rarest books are on display for the public to see, just don't expect to be allowed to sign them out.
