Treasured Darwin notes feared stolen

Two of Charles Darwin's notebooks containing his pioneering ideas on evolution and his famous Tree of Life sketch are missing, believed stolen, the Cambridge University Library says.

The British scientist filled the leather notebooks in 1837 after returning from his voyage on HMS Beagle. The library said they were worth millions of pounds.

The university's vast library first listed the notebooks as missing in 2001 after they were moved out of the Special Collections Strong Rooms for photographs.

They were long believed to have been incorrectly filed. However a search this year failed to turn up the notebooks.

The University Librarian, Jessica Gardner, is appealing for help.

She suggested that former or current library staff, those working in the book trade or researchers, could have information.

The appeal was launched on November 24, the date of the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species.