LONDON (HRNW) — Two of naturalist Charles Darwin’s notebooks that were reported stolen from Cambridge University’s library have been returned, two decades after they disappeared.
The university said Tuesday that the manuscripts were left in the library inside a pink gift bag, along with a note wishing the librarian a Happy Easter.
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 (dollars).
On March 9 the books reappeared, 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.”
University Director of Library Services Jessica Gardner said her feeling of relief at the books’ reappearance was “profound and almost impossible to adequately express.”
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