Courts

Rare books expert consents to orders over Jackie Kennedy letters

Copies made by Owen Felix O’Neill of the letters given back to solicitors for Sheppard’s auctioneers for return to All Hallows College

Owen Felix O’Neill, an expert in rare books and documents, who discovered and catalogued the Jackie Kennedy letters at All Hallows College in Dublin
Owen Felix O’Neill, an expert in rare books and documents, who discovered and catalogued the Jackie Kennedy letters at All Hallows College in Dublin
Fri May 30 2014 - 01:00

An expert on rare books has consented to permanent orders restraining him representing himself as the owner or seller of letters sent by former US first lady Jackie Kennedy to an Irish priest, or passing on any copies or extracts from them to third parties.

Copies made by Owen Felix O’Neill of the letters, which were handed into the Commercial Court earlier this month, were given back yesterday to solicitors for Sheppard’s auctioneers for return to the Vincentian Order at All Hallows College in Dublin.

Mr O’Neill, who denied taking any unauthorised actions concerning the letters, also consented to various permanent injunctions being made against him.

In those circumstances and given the cancellation of a planned auction of the letters on June 10th, Mr Justice Peter Kelly in the High Court agreed to an application by Maurice Collins SC, for Sheppard’s, to strike out proceedings initiated this month against Mr O’Neill.

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MJ Fine Art Ltd, trading as Sheppard’s Irish Auction House, of Durrow, Co Laois, had brought the case against Mr O’Neill, Cahir, Co Tipperary. It concerned correspondence between Jackie Kennedy and Fr Joseph Leonard – a Vincentian priest who lived in All Hallows College in Drumcondra, Dublin – extending from 1950 to 1964.

Kennedy solicitors

Since the case was initiated, solicitors acting for Caroline Kennedy (the sole surviving child of Jackie Kennedy) and Edwin Schlossberg (as trustee to the estate of her deceased son, John Kennedy jnr) had written on May 21st to Sheppard’s asserting their clients were the owner of the copyright of the letters and seeking undertakings from Sheppard’s, including that, at the end of the legal proceedings, the copies of the letters would be given to the Kennedy solicitors, Philip Sheppard said in an affidavit.

Solicitors for Sheppard’s had indicated the firm would do nothing to infringe copyright and, should All Hallows so request, they would be happy to give the copies to the Kennedy solicitors, he said

Yesterday, Mr Collins said, in response to a request from All Hallows, the auction would not take place and his client had returned the originals of the letters as requested by the college. The copies made by Mr O’Neill of the letters, which had been kept in a locked safe in the Central Office of the Four Courts, were also being returned, he said.