Two notebooks once owned by Charles Darwin have resurfaced at Cambridge University, arriving anonymously after a gap of nearly twenty-two years. The fragile, leather-bound volumes carry Darwin’s early sketches of a concept that would ultimately reshape science: the tree of life.
The University Library has issued a worldwide appeal for information on their whereabouts, as reported by BBC through Europa Press. The origin of the notebooks remains a mystery; they were left in a pink gift bag that contained the original blue box in which the works were stored.
An accompanying brown envelope, stamped with the words “Librarian, Happy Easter,” suggests a discreet delivery. The notebooks originate from the late 1830s, following Darwin’s voyage to the Galapagos Islands and the early observations that would underpin his later ideas.
One page bears a drawing of a branching tree that embodies the concept of common descent—a graphic that would, more than two decades later, underpin the arguments in Darwin’s monumental work on the Origin of Species.
According to Jim Secord, professor emeritus of the history and philosophy of science at the university, the notebooks contain insights that continue to inform natural science and earth sciences. He notes that natural selection and the theory of evolution are arguably the most important ideas driving modern biology and environmental studies, and that these notebooks laid the groundwork for those theories.
The manuscripts had last been publicly tracked in November 2000 when an internal decision led to their temporary removal from the library’s private collections vault. In the weeks that followed, a routine audit revealed their absence. Initially, staff suspected a misplacement—the Cambridge University Library houses more than 10 million books, maps, and manuscripts, a treasure trove that can make locating a single item feel almost impossible.
Despite repeated searches and extensive catalog checks, the notebooks remained elusive for years. In 2020, a determination was made that they were very likely stolen and the case was reported to Interpol, marking a turning point in the attempt to recover them. The discovery of their possible theft has prompted renewed interest from scholars and historians who see in these pages a rare, personal window into Darwin’s intellectual development and the origins of his most enduring theories.
Scholars familiar with Darwin’s notebooks emphasize the fragile trajectory of scientific ideas—from cautious observations during a voyage to bold theoretical leaps that would eventually transform biology. The drawings and notes in the Cambridge volumes map that journey, showing how empirical observation can mature into a theory with broad implications for understanding life on Earth and its environments. The notebooks illuminate how Darwin wrestled with questions of variation, heredity, and the mechanisms by which species adapt and diverge, processes that would later acquire a formal theory of evolution grounded in natural selection.
The ongoing provenance questions surrounding the notebooks have sparked conversations about the stewardship of historical scientific documents. Cambridge University’s library system has responded with renewed calibration of its security and cataloging practices, acknowledging that even items housed within a venerable institution can vanish without a trace. The episode also underscores the importance of global collaboration among archives and law enforcement to safeguard fragile artifacts that carry wide-reaching scientific and cultural significance.
As researchers await further information about the present location of the notebooks, the public and the academic community alike reflect on the enduring value of Darwin’s early sketches. The tree of life, sketched in that small leather volume, remains a powerful symbol of how life on Earth is interrelated and how careful, empirical inquiry can illuminate the patterns that connect all living things. The notebooks stand as a reminder that ideas raised in quiet moments of observation can someday illuminate broad questions about life, adaptation, and the history of science itself.