Charles Darwin’s iconic Tree of Life notebooks – stolen and then returned to Cambridge University Library earlier this year – go on display this weekend.

The famous 1837 Tree of Life sketch is part of a new exhibition opening at the university library in West Road on Saturday, July 9, 2022.

The precious notebook was one of two that went missing from the library in 2001.

Staff initially believed they may have been misshelved. However, after extensive searches of the library, the manuscripts were reported as stolen to Cambridgeshire Police in October 2020.

The force launched an investigation and notified Interpol, with the university making a worldwide appeal for information.

Almost a year-and-a-half later, they were returned anonymously on March 9 of this year in a pink gift bag – with a typed note on an envelope wishing a 'Happy Easter' to the librarian.

Now they are back home, they are going on display in a ground-breaking new exhibition called ‘Darwin in Conservation’.

Housed behind glass in a new, bespoke and high-security exhibition case, it will be the first time this century that they have gone on public display at Cambridge University Library.

A spokesperson said: "Darwin in Conversation examines how the great naturalist sought help from a cast of thousands of men, women and even children globally as he wrote his foundational works on evolutionary biology."

As well as the returned Darwin notebooks, other objects going on display include Darwin’s personal first edition of Origin of the Species, the squeaky kidney beans which became a viral ASMR hit, and the beautifully illustrated sketchbooks from the voyage of HMS Beagle.

The exhibition also includes personal letters from early girlfriends of Darwin, and the famously vexed correspondence where he declares that: "I hate myself, I hate clover and I hate bees."

The exhibition is free and will run until December 3. Book tickets via www.lib.cam.ac.uk/darwin

Darwin in Conversation transfers to New York Public Library in 2023.

The Darwin Archive at Cambridge is by far the largest and most significant collection of his material anywhere in the world.