The Boston Public Library said it received a pair of books in the mail that were due Sept. 21, 1950.

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Library officials said the books, "Autobiography by John Stuart Mill" and "The Writings of Henry David Thoreau," arrived in a package Tuesday with an unsigned, handwritten note, the Boston Herald reported Thursday.

"I came across these two books that don't belong to me, they belong to you. I must have taken them out when I was a college student in Boston," the note read. "I did not mean to keep them. ... I am returning them to whom they belong, that is you and the people of the city of Boston."

Mary Frances O'Brien, head of public services for the library, said the person who returned the books will not have to pay any late fees, which would have totaled $4,391.80.