Cambridge University received an early Easter present when two missing notebooks of naturalist Charles Darwin containing his pioneering ideas on evolution and his famous "Tree of Life" sketch were returned, two decades after they disappeared.
The university said on Tuesday the manuscripts were left in the library inside a pink gift bag on March 9, along with a note wishing the librarian a Happy Easter.
They were left in a public area of the building, outside the librarian’s office, which is not covered by security cameras. The two notebooks were wrapped in clingfilm inside their archive box and appeared undamaged. The accompanying note said: "Librarian Happy Easter X.”
The notebooks, which include the 19th-century scientist’s famous "Tree of Life” sketch, went missing in 2001 after being removed for photographing, though at the time staff believed they might have been misplaced. After searches of the library’s collection of 10 million books, maps and manuscripts failed to find them, they were reported stolen to police in October 2020.
Local detectives notified the global police organization Interpol and launched an international hunt for the notebooks, valued at millions of pounds.
"My sense of relief at the notebooks' safe return is profound and almost impossible to adequately express," said university librarian Jessica Gardner, who raised the alarm in 2020 that the notebooks were feared stolen.
"The notebooks can now retake their rightful place alongside the rest of the Darwin Archive at Cambridge, at the heart of the nation’s cultural and scientific heritage, alongside the archives of Sir Isaac Newton and Professor Stephen Hawking,” she said.
The British scientist filled the leather notebooks in 1837 after returning from a pioneering voyage on the ship HMS Beagle. In one book, Darwin drew a diagram showing several possibilities for the evolution of a species and later published a more developed illustration in his 1859 book "On the Origin of Species."
The notebooks are set to go on public display from July as part of a Darwin exhibition at the library.
Cambridgeshire Police said its investigation was continuing, "and we are following up some lines of inquiry."
"We also renew our appeal for anyone with information about the case to contact us,” the force said.
