Description
Signed first edition of “I Gave Them A Sword,” inscribed by journalist David Frost to Merrill Panitt of TV Guide. Frost convinced Merrill to feature the Frost-Nixon Interview on the April 1977 cover of TV Guide.
Octavo, 320pp. Black cloth, title in silver on spine. Stated “first edition” on copyright page with a number line ending at 2. Light foxing along top edge of text block. In the publisher’s dust jacket, $9.95 on front flap, short closed tear, very good example.
Inscribed by the author on the half-title: “To Merrill – My thank you for taking the leap of faith with this / David Frost.”
This copy was inscribed to Merrill Panitt (1918-1994), the founder and editorial director of TV Guide. During World War II, Panitt served on the staff of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, where he came to the attention of Walter Annenberg, the publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Panitt joined The Inquirer in 1945 and worked with Annenberg to found TV Guide in 1953. He later became the director of Triangle Publications, the publisher of TV Guide, Seventeen Magazine, and many more.
