The manuscript thief who just wanted to surround himself with books

The judicial case had been correctly translated into literary terms by the prosecutor who announced the arrest last July. “A true story that becomes a morality tale: an unexpected twist in the plot brings the thief of manuscripts to court.” Impeccable, not even the presumption of innocence is needed: Filippo Bernardini immediately pleaded guilty. It was he who stole a thousand manuscripts from various American and European publishing houses. Novels by famous writers like Margaret Atwood, Ethan Hawke, Sally Rooney, and novels by writers who weren’t famous yet. Without financial gain. For none of the manuscripts – “ms”, in the abbreviations used by people in the trade: agents, writers, translators, editors, rights offices – a ransom has been demanded, threatening to publish the text on the internet or to print it in pirated editions. It happened, for example, to Quentin Tarantino, in 2014: the script of “The Hateful Eight” circulated online before the film went into production. Furious at the broken trust (he had given the script to only six people to read) the director had decided not to make the film again. Then he thought about it. And now, knowing that the script for his next and last set job (there were supposed to be ten, not one more) is titled “The Movie Critic” makes anyone want to steal it.