WALLACE, LEW. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. 8vo, original decorated light blue cloth, spine sunned with fraying at tips, joints rubbed, corners bumped, minor soiling; hinges tender, bookplate, last three leaves with one-inch closed tear; chemise and 1/4 morocco slipcase. First edition, first issue, with "To The Wife Of My Youth" on printed dedication and "be-became" on p. 11, lines 37-38. 12-pages publisher's ads at end. [With:] 3-page Autograph Letter Signed laid in (mailing folds, dated 9 January 1880, from "United States Legation / Constantinople"), to the publishers ("Messers Harper Bros") saying that Wallace had heard that a pirated edition of Ben-Hur was being sold in Chicago, and asking that the offenders be prosecuted "to the last penalty of the law, that is if we have law upon the subject." BAL 20798. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1880