Manuscript thief Filippo Bernardini and his attorney Jennifer Brown both submitted letters in advance of his Federal Court sentencing on April 5, trying to explain Bernardini’s motivation for the thefts. Bernardini writes that stealing manuscripts was an “obsession, a compulsive behavior” related to wanting to work in publishing. His attorney suggests, “His offense can be seen as a form of ‘extreme collecting'”…. He had served as an intern at Andrew Nurnberg Associates in London, but was unable to immediately find a job in the industry afterward. Bernardini faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, plus fines for wire fraud […]