5 ms·

Charles Darwin's notebooks reported stolen from Cambridge University

10 points by jonbaer 6y ago

abqexpert 6y ago
Totally crazy that they didn't know where they were for 20 years and now call them stolen.
- sohkamyung 6y ago
  It does say this in the article: >Dr Jessica Gardner, university librarian and director of library services since 2017, said: “My predecessors genuinely believed that what had happened was that these had been mis-shelved or misfiled and they took forward extensive searches over the years in that genuine belief. >“Now we have completely reviewed as a new team what happened and come to a conclusion that that’s not a sufficient position or set of actions to take.” The article goes on to say that "Cambridge University library has more than 130 miles (210km) of shelving", so it would have needed time to really think and consider the possibility that the notebooks have been stolen, I believe.
interestica 6y ago
Luckily: "The two Darwin notebooks had previously been digitised and their content is available online." . University of Cambridge has a bit more on their "appeal" site (https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/DarwinAppeal https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/DarwinAppeal) The digitized notebooks are available: [1] https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DAR-00121/1 https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DAR-00121/1 [2] https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DAR-00122/1 https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DAR-00122/1 Also, today is the anniversary of the release of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life on November 24, 1859. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species
canada_dry 6y ago
Reminded me of this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24248197 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24248197 In that story, one of the sleazy culprits (who fenced the stolen books) was not only a member of the Antique Books Association, he also served on its ethics and standards committee!
- londons_explore 6y ago
  I think this kind of thing is common. It's only experts in the field who really appreciate the value of this stuff, so it's only experts who steal. The field is small enough all experts know one another. To regular thieves, they're just dusty old books which wouldn't even sell for a dollar at a flea market.

10 points by jonbaer 6y ago

abqexpert 6y ago

Totally crazy that they didn't know where they were for 20 years and now call them stolen.

sohkamyung 6y ago
It does say this in the article: >Dr Jessica Gardner, university librarian and director of library services since 2017, said: “My predecessors genuinely believed that what had happened was that these had been mis-shelved or misfiled and they took forward extensive searches over the years in that genuine belief. >“Now we have completely reviewed as a new team what happened and come to a conclusion that that’s not a sufficient position or set of actions to take.” The article goes on to say that "Cambridge University library has more than 130 miles (210km) of shelving", so it would have needed time to really think and consider the possibility that the notebooks have been stolen, I believe.

interestica 6y ago

Luckily: "The two Darwin notebooks had previously been digitised and their content is available online." . University of Cambridge has a bit more on their "appeal" site (https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/DarwinAppeal https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/DarwinAppeal) The digitized notebooks are available: [1] https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DAR-00121/1 https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DAR-00121/1 [2] https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DAR-00122/1 https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DAR-00122/1 Also, today is the anniversary of the release of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life on November 24, 1859. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species

canada_dry 6y ago

Reminded me of this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24248197 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24248197 In that story, one of the sleazy culprits (who fenced the stolen books) was not only a member of the Antique Books Association, he also served on its ethics and standards committee!

londons_explore 6y ago
I think this kind of thing is common. It's only experts in the field who really appreciate the value of this stuff, so it's only experts who steal. The field is small enough all experts know one another. To regular thieves, they're just dusty old books which wouldn't even sell for a dollar at a flea market.