The man explained his actions by the desire to secretly possess manuscripts and “cherish” them even before their contents are published.
Filippo Bernardini, a 30-year-old employee of the London office of Simon & Schuster publishing house, has stolen more than a thousand manuscripts of contemporary writers, writes The Bookseller. The man faces up to 21 months in prison.
From August 2016 until January 2022, Bernardini posed as more than a hundred people from the book publishing community. He himself dealt with issues of rights to works.
According to The Guardian, the man took possession of the manuscripts of works by authors such as Margaret Atwood, Sally Rooney and Ian McEwan.
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In January 2023, Bernardini pleaded guilty to one count of fraud and agreed to pay $88,000 in damages. Here is how he explained the reason for his actions: “I never handed over the manuscripts to anyone. I wanted to secretly possess them, to be among those who would cherish them even before the books hit the stores.”
