WARMLY INSCRIBED BY JFK AS PRESIDENT AND SIGNED BY JACKIE TO KENNEDY'S MILITARY AIDE, GENERAL GODFREY MCHUGH: THE WHITE HOUSE: AN HISTORIC GUIDE, ONE OF ONLY 75 PRESENTATION COPIES, SPECIALLY BOUND IN FULL MOROCCO

(KENNEDY, John F.) (KENNEDY, Jacqueline). The White House: An Historic Guide. Washington: The White House Historical Association, 1962. Large octavo, original full red morocco, marbled endpapers. $29,000.

Limited second edition of this guide to the White House, the second of two limited editions, number 38a of only 75 presentation copies specially bound in full morocco with the recipient's initials stamped in gilt on the front cover, warmly inscribed on the limitation page by President Kennedy to his close military aide, USAF General Godfrey McHugh: "For Godfrey McHugh, with warm personal regards, John Kennedy… Christmas 1962" and signed beneath his signature by the First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy "took an interest in 'restoring' (as opposed to redecorating) the White House. She had it placed on the National Register of Historic Places. She also wrote and edited the first White House guidebook, which was sold to tourists. The proceeds from the book were used to help finance her restoration of the White House with historic antiques. She also made the White House a symbol of American cultural renewal by scheduling performances of ballet, Shakespearean drama and classical music; the most notable of these events was the rare live performance of cello virtuoso Pablo Casals," here pictured on pages 80-81 (ANB). Generously illustrated with numerous color and black-and-white photographs, the book introduces readers to the history of the Executive Mansion and leads them on a tour of its most notable rooms. This second edition was published the same year as a limited first edition of 100 copies bound in green morocco. The softcover first trade edition was also published in 1962. Limitation leaf, with inscription, tipped in with cloth tape, as issued. Recipient U.S. Air Force General Godfrey McHugh was a close military aide to President Kennedy, whose duties included supervising Air Force One. While he often rode in the middle of the front seat of the Presidential State Car while transporting the President, in Dallas on the day Kennedy was assassinated McHugh was moved farther back in the motorcade. He was present at Parkland Memorial Hospital as doctors attempted to save the President's life, and after the President's death, McHugh stood guard by Kennedy's body on Air Force One as the President's body was returned to Washington, D.C.

A few minor rubs to spine, very nearly fine.