Missing Ink: Darwin Notebooks, Long Unseen, Now Believed Stolen
"Have you seen Charles Darwin's missing notebooks? If so, the authorities — and
some "heartbroken" librarians — would like to have a word with you."
"That's the bottom line of an appeal issued Tuesday by Cambridge University Library in the U.K. The library, which manages a massive archive of the famed naturalist's work, said it's seeking two notebooks that have been missing for nearly two decades — and that, after an exhaustive search, they fear were stolen."
"Cambridgeshire Police confirmed Tuesday that they have opened a formal investigation into the disappearance. The library says the pair of journals, which it estimates being worth millions of dollars, have also been added to the Art Loss Register in the U.K. and Interpol's database of stolen works of art."
"'It is deeply regretful to me that these notebooks remain missing despite numerous widescale searches over the past 20 years, including the largest search in the library's history earlier this year,' Jessica Gardner, the Cambridge University Librarian, said in a recorded plea for public help."