They say better late than never. A New Jersey man pushed that to the limit when he returned a library book 53 years late, CBS New York reported.

It was 1966 when the man, who was 13 years old at the time, checked out "The Family Book Of Verse" by Lewis Gannet. Lyndon Johnson was president and Vietnam War protests were raging.

Harry Krame, now 65, said -- laughing -- that when he was asked his name while checking out the book, he said he couldn't give it because he was in the witness protection program.

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Krame said he found the book recently while cleaning out his basement and started to feel kind of guilty.

"It lasted a few seconds," he said. "It was like holy **** I still have (it)."

He said he knew at that moment he had to take it back. So, after more than a half a century, the former student returned the book to Memorial Middle School in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

At 10 cents a day, that's about $2,000, the school reckons. But not to worry.

"We're not looking to collect on it," said Dominick Tarquinio, the vice principal of Memorial Middle School, who was shocked when the mysterious student — now an adult — came in and said he had something to return.

The copy of the "The Family Book Of Verse" was from 1961, when the cost of the book was $4.95.