The University of Cambridge Library asks for help in finding two missing notebooks belonging to scientist Charles Darwin. One of the two contains the iconic ‘Tree of Life’ sketch from 1837. This is in his first notebook ‘Transmutation of Species’, Transmutation of Species. This evolutionary family tree shows the structure of the animal kingdom and the lineage of living organisms.
Darwin was 28 years old when he drew that tree. He had just returned from the Galapagos Islands aboard the ship the Beagle.
“It’s heartbreaking,” Dr. Jessica Gardner, university librarian, told the BBC. “We want to turn every stone and leave no stone unturned to find out what happened.” In a YouTube video she makes an appeal to help with the search.
“Your help can be critical,” she emphasizes in this call:
On its own site, the library writes that “after an extensive search, the largest in the library’s history, curators have concluded that the notebooks first listed as missing in January 2001 were probably stolen.”
The two notebooks were in the Special Collections Strong Rooms where the rarest and most valuable items are kept. They were taken from there in September 2000 to photograph.
During a routine check in January 2001, the booklets, which are the size of a postcard, were found out of place. For years it was believed that they had been lost in the vast storage areas. The library has a collection of about 10 million books, maps, manuscripts and other objects.
“These notebooks are Darwin’s attempt to ask where species come from, what is the origin of species,” Jim Secord, professor emeritus of history, told the BBC. “It’s almost like being in Darwin’s head when you look at the notes.”
Gardner is now convinced that Darwin’s two works have been stolen. “It would be nice if they are under a bed somewhere, but it could also be that someone has discovered that they cannot be sold. Now is the time to return them, which can also be anonymous.”
The police have been notified and the missing notebooks have been added to Interpol’s international list of stolen artworks. The value is difficult to determine, but it amounts to millions of British pounds, according to the library.