Description
Signed first edition of World Aflame by Billy Graham, inscribed to White House Special Assistant Jack Valenti.
Octavo, xvii, 267pp. Red cloth, title in gilt on spine. Stated “First Edition” on the copyright page. Solid text block, a fine example. In the publisher’s dust jacket, $3.95 retail price, light wear to corners and edges, a near fine example. Jack Valenti’s “White House” book plate affixed to front endpaper. Inscribed on the front free endpaper “To My Friend Jack Valenti / God Bless You Always / Bill / Aug 11 ’65 …, N.C.”
Billy Graham (1918-2018) was a Southern Baptist minister with a close personal friendship to President Lyndon B. Johnson. The recipient of this copy, Jack Valenti, served as Special Assistant to Johnson in the mid-60s. In an interview from 1982, Graham remembers a stay at Camp David in which Johnson “had Jack Valenti reading an evangelistic sermon” to multiple members of the Cabinet (UPI 1982). The two frequently crossed paths during their time alongside the Johnson administration.
