Missing Charles Darwin notebooks have been mysteriously returned to Cambridge University alongside an anonymous note, much to the shock of librarian Dr Jessica Gardner.
The manuscripts were last seen in November 2000 after an ‘internal request’ to remove them from the library’s special collections strongroom. However, during a routine check two months later, the notebooks were nowhere to be found. They were believed to have been misfiled but searches over the years turned up nothing.
Dr Gardner became director of library services in 2017 and, after more searches for the notebooks, she concluded that they had ‘probably been stolen.’
22 years after they were last seen, the notebooks were returned to the library this March. They were left anonymously in a bright pink gift bag, which contained the original box the notebooks were stored in, and a brown envelope. On it was printed a short message: ‘Librarian, Happy Easter X.’
The notebooks were wrapped in clingfilm and, after five days, police granted permission to open them. It was then they were able to confirm that the notebooks were genuine.
Dr Gardner said: ‘I was shaking, but I was also cautious because until we could unwrap them, you can’t be 100% sure.’
Explaining that she thought it might take ‘years’ for the manuscripts to be returned, Dr Gardner stated: ‘My sense of relief at the notebooks’ safe return is profound and almost impossible to adequately express.’
Jim Secord, emeritus professor of history and philosophy of science at Cambridge University, described the notebooks as ‘some of the most remarkable documents in the whole history of science.’
He said: ‘The theory of natural selection and evolution is probably the single most important theory in the life and earth environmental sciences and these are the notebooks in which that theory was put together.’
Luckily, the notebooks are in ‘remarkably good condition’ and every page that should be there is there, Gardner confirmed.
‘I do wonder where they have been. They haven’t been handled much, they’ve clearly been looked after with care, wherever they have been,’ she said.