LONDON (AP) – Two notebooks of naturalist Charles Darwin allegedly stolen from the Cambridge University Library have returned two decades after their disappearance.
The university said Tuesday that the manuscripts were left in the library in a pink gift bag along with the librarian’s Easter greeting.
The notebooks, which include a sketch by the famous 1837 scientist The Tree of Life from 1837, disappeared in 2001 after being removed for photography, though staff at the time believed they may have been in the wrong place. After 10 million books, maps and manuscripts disappeared from the library’s collection, police were notified of the theft in October 2020.
Local investigators alerted the global police organization Interpol and launched an international search of notebooks worth a million pounds (dollars).
On March 9, the books, left in the building’s public space, reappeared outside the librarian’s office, uncovered by security cameras. The two notebooks are packaged in an archival box and look intact. The attached note reads: “Congratulations to the librarian on Easter X”.
Darwin filled his notebooks with ideas after returning from a trip around the world with HMS Beagle and developed ideas that evolved into his successful work on evolution, The Origin of Species.
Jessica Gardner, director of University Library Services, said her relief after the books’ reappearance was “deep and almost impossible to express adequately.”
“Notebooks can now take their rightful place in Cambridge along with Darwin’s remaining archives at the Nation’s Cultural and Scientific Heritage Center, along with the archives of Sir Isaac Newton and Professor Stephen Hawking,” he said.
The notebooks will be on display to the public from July as part of the Darwin exhibition at the Library.
Cambridge Police said their investigations are ongoing and we are monitoring several lines of investigation.
“We are also updating our call for anyone with information in this case to contact us,” the military said.
Source: Huffpost
