A Documented Case of Harassment, Defamation, and Conflict of Interest

Peter Kidd, author of the blog mssprovenance, is a known promoter of the trade in excised manuscript leaves and a self-styled expert with no academic credentials or institutional affiliation. After Prof. Carla Rossi publicly exposed the market in dismembered manuscripts, Kidd retaliated by launching a defamatory campaign against her.
A former freelance cataloguer briefly contracted by the British Library, Kidd now operates as a private consultant, collaborating with collectors and auction houses that profit from the dismantling of medieval manuscripts—particularly Books of Hours and Psalters.
Through his blog, he regularly publicises isolated leaves removed from coherent codices, contributing to the erasure of historical context for financial gain.

A Repeated Pattern: From the Mazzarelli Case to ReceptioGate

As extensively documented by researcher Jordi Puig and across academic platforms including OProM, ISFiDa, and Substack, Peter Kidd is not new to reputational attacks.

Over a decade before the ReceptioGate affair, Kidd was centrally involved in what has become known as the Mazzarelli case. In 1979, Italian collector Giovanni Mazzarelli legally acquired illuminated manuscripts through Sotheby’s London. Years later, after seeking a valuation, he was suddenly associated with theft — not by judicial authorities, but through a campaign of reputational damage carried out in part through Kidd’s work as a cataloguer and consultant.

Documents hosted on Mazzarelli’s own website confirm that Peter Kidd repeatedly appeared in internal communications and contributed to public insinuations between 2001 and 2012:
🔗 https://mazzarelligiovanni.jimdofree.com
🔗 https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-a-documented-case-of-defamation-and-concealment-from-giovanni-mazzarelli-to-receptiog
🔗 https://www.lagazzettadelmezzogiorno.it/news/puglia/303432/torna-a-bari-prezioso-messale-rubato-40-anni-fa.html
🔗 https://corrieredelmezzogiorno.corriere.it/napoli/notizie/cronaca/2011/16-settembre-2011/messale-trani-asta-londraera-sparito-anni-70-recuperato--1901555528973.shtml

Only after lengthy legal proceedings was Mazzarelli fully vindicated and the manuscripts returned to public libraries — without compensation, and with full transparency.

The methods and tone of that campaign find troubling parallels in the attacks launched against Prof. Carla Rossi, which began in December 2022 — just days after she filed a formal report with the Carabinieri's Art Crimes Unit denouncing the illicit trade in dismembered manuscripts.

Once again, Peter Kidd was at the centre, now operating through his personal blog Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, where he published over twenty entries targeting Prof. Rossi, her work, her affiliations, and her legal counsel. These blog posts avoided any scholarly engagement and relied instead on insinuation, omission, and rhetorical distortion.

What followed was a full-blown smear campaign:

• Anonymous death threats

• Falsified obituaries

• Unauthorised use of academic mailing lists

• Search engine manipulation to bury Rossi’s publications

While Kidd has not claimed direct authorship of every aspect of this coordinated effort, the chronology, terminology, and thematic alignment between his blog posts and online harassment form a clear and dangerous pattern.

The goal was not critique. The goal was silence.

Prof. Rossi’s work — particularly her digital reconstructions of dismembered codices — posed a direct challenge to the market Kidd has long operated within and promoted.

To date, Peter Kidd has issued no public clarification, nor has he corrected any demonstrably false claims published on his blog.

📌 Related Sources:

• https://www.oprom.eu/post/how-peter-kidd-promoted-the-destruction-of-the-de-roucy-hours-his-collaboration-with-manuscript-dis

• https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-excised-leaves-and-the-illusion-of-provenance-research-2025-commentary

• https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-manuscripts-provenance-mssprovenance-a-dormant-blog-once-used-to-promote-manu

• https://www.oprom.eu/post/from-bloomsbury-to-sotheby-s-the-destruction-and-sale-of-the-de-roucy-hours-and-peter-kidd-s-part

• https://www.oprom.eu/post/the-receptiogate-affair-official-documents-academic-response-and-timeline-of-events

• https://oprom.substack.com/p/peter-kidd-and-receptiogate-not-an

• https://www.receptiogate.info/actors-behind-the-defamation/peter-kidd-medieval-manuscripts-provenance

Patterns matter. And Peter Kidd’s pattern of reputational defamation is now public, documented, and indisputable.

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Since December 2022, Peter Kidd has engaged in a sustained campaign of defamation against Prof. Carla Rossi, a philologist internationally recognised for her work on the digital reconstruction of dismembered manuscripts and her firm stance against the manuscript leaf market. His attacks began just days after Prof. Rossi published a documented appeal denouncing the online sale of illuminated folios and filed a report with the Italian Carabinieri’s Art Crimes Unit.

Using his blog as a platform, Kidd has published more than twenty defamatory posts targeting Prof. Rossi, the Research Centre for European Philological Tradition (RECEPTIO) research centre, her collaborators, and even her legal counsel. These posts contributed to a series of harmful consequences:
– Fake obituaries announcing Prof. Rossi’s death were published online.
– Anonymous death threats were received by email.
– Defamatory emails were sent using mailing lists from academic societies, violating data privacy.
– Journalists were contacted directly, leading to the publication of smear articles based on demonstrably false claims.

Kidd’s writings repeatedly deny Prof. Rossi’s academic credentials, question the existence of her institutions, and insinuate misconduct without any evidence. This goes beyond professional disagreement: it constitutes a deliberate and systematic campaign of reputational destruction.

It must also be noted that Peter Kidd has authored or contributed to the description and promotion of multiple leaves from dismembered manuscripts which Prof. Rossi has studied and digitally reconstructed in published academic volumes. The conflict of interest is glaring, and the retaliatory nature of his campaign is undeniable.

OProM strongly denounces this hostile behaviour and expresses full support for Prof. Rossi and her work to protect the integrity of medieval manuscript heritage. We believe that the systematic dismemberment of manuscripts, and the silencing of those who oppose it, constitute a threat to both cultural memory and academic integrity.

This page is published as a formal response to a documented case of harassment. The facts are public, verifiable, and serious. OProM stands in defence of truth, scholarly dignity, and the ethical handling of cultural heritage.

Further Links:

https://www.oprom.eu/post/how-peter-kidd-promoted-the-destruction-of-the-de-roucy-hours-his-collaboration-with-manuscript-dis
https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-excised-leaves-and-the-illusion-of-provenance-research-2025-commentary
https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-a-documented-case-of-defamation-and-concealment-from-giovanni-mazzarelli-to-receptiog
https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-manuscripts-provenance-mssprovenance-false-claims-and-misuse-of-oprom-identity
https://www.oprom.eu/post/peter-kidd-medieval-manuscripts-provenance-mssprovenance-a-dormant-blog-once-used-to-promote-manu
https://www.oprom.eu/post/from-bloomsbury-to-sotheby-s-the-destruction-and-sale-of-the-de-roucy-hours-and-peter-kidd-s-part
https://www.oprom.eu/post/the-receptiogate-affair-official-documents-academic-response-and-timeline-of-events
https://www.oprom.eu/post/the-receptiogate-affair-truth-defamation-and-the-struggle-against-manuscript-dismemberment
https://www.oprom.eu/post/le-blog-medieval-manuscripts-provenance-de-peter-kidd-une-violente-campagne-de-diffamation-con
https://www.oprom.eu/post/the-responsibility-of-the-società-internazionale-di-storia-della-miniatura-in-the-receptiogate-affai
https://www.oprom.eu/post/accusations-de-plagiat-textes-m%C3%A9di%C3%A9vaux-et-receptiogate-r%C3%A9ponse-document%C3%A9e-%C3%A0-un-cas-d-%C3%A9cole-20
https://www.oprom.eu/post/receptio-rossiaffair-detailedrebuttaltodavidrundle-sallegations
https://www.oprom.eu/post/carla-rossi-and-the-university-of-zurich-clarification-and-academic-record
https://www.oprom.eu/post/reddit-and-the-carla-rossi-case-zurich-2025
ISFiDa
https://www.isfida.eu/post/peter-kidd-a-documented-case-of-defamation-and-concealment-from-giovanni-mazzarelli-to-receptiog
https://www.isfida.eu/post/biblioclasm-market-and-ethics-stop-calling-them-fragments
https://www.isfida.eu/post/how-mssprovenance-lost-its-purpose-and-turned-into-an-attack-bloga-documented-contribution-to-the
https://www.isfida.eu/post/peter-kidd-manuscripts-provenance-mssprovenance-ethical-concerns-and-the-legacy-of-dismembered-ma
https://www.isfida.eu/post/receptiogate-official-documents-publications-and-institutional-response
https://www.isfida.eu/post/receptiogate-and-the-defence-of-academic-integrity
https://www.isfida.eu/post/la-società-internazionale-di-storia-della-miniatura
Receptiogate.info
https://www.receptiogate.info/
https://www.receptiogate.info/actors-behind-the-defamation
https://www.receptiogate.info/actors-behind-the-defamation/peter-kidd-medieval-manuscripts-provenance
https://www.receptiogate.info/press-statements
https://www.receptiogate.info/press-statements
https://www.receptiogate.info/timeline
https://www.receptiogate.info/faq
https://www.receptiogate.info/actors-behind-the-defamation/societ%C3%A0-internazionale-di-storia-della-miniatura
Alta-Formazione
https://www.alta-formazione.it/post/receptiogate-spiegato-diffamazione-documenti-accuse-infondate-e-risposta-accademica
https://www.alta-formazione.it/post/what-is-receptiogate-a-chronicle-of-attacks-and-academic-continuity
https://www.alta-formazione.it/post/peter-kidd-s-manuscript-provenance-blog-a-vile-persecutory-campaign-against-prof-carla-rossi
Carla Rossi.info
https://www.profcarlarossi.info/post/una-campagna-persecutoria-ignobile
Substack
https://oprom.substack.com/p/carla-rossi-zurich-clarifying-facts
https://oprom.substack.com/p/carla-rossi-zurich-clarifier-les
https://oprom.substack.com/p/carla-rossi-zurich-fakten-statt-geruchte
https://oprom.substack.com/p/carla-rossi-zurich-una-aclaracion
https://oprom.substack.com/publish/post/164304863
https://open.substack.com/pub/oprom/p/carla-rossi-zurich-an-academic-profile?r=5j99hd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
https://oprom.substack.com/p/peter-kidd-and-receptiogate-not-an
https://oprom.substack.com/p/academic-integrity-cultural-heritage
https://oprom.substack.com/p/documented-timeline-of-the-defamation
https://oprom.substack.com/p/cronologia-documentata-della-campagna
https://open.substack.com/pub/oprom/p/receptiogate-was-not-a-scholarly?r=5j99hd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
https://oprom.substack.com/p/why-peter-kidds-blog-is-not-a-scholarly
https://oprom.substack.com/p/peter-kidd-and-the-mazzarelli-case
https://oprom.substack.com/p/peter-kidd-and-receptiogate-not-an
https://oprom.substack.com/p/facing-disinformation-with-knowledge
https://oprom.substack.com/p/how-the-societa-internazionale-di
https://oprom.substack.com/p/come-la-societa-internazionale-di
https://oprom.substack.com/p/all-official-sources-on-receptiogate
https://open.substack.com/pub/oprom/p/peter-kidd-mssprovenance-and-manuscript?r=5j99hd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
https://oprom.substack.com/p/2025-why-peter-kidds-mssprovenance
Receptiogate blog
https://receptiogate.blogspot.com/2025/05/2025-peter-kidd-medieval-manuscripts.html
https://sites.google.com/view/receptiogate
https://sites.google.com/view/carla-rossi/home-page

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