Property of a West End Gentleman WALLACE, Lew (1827-1905). Ben-Hur. A Tale of the Christ. New York: 1880. 12mo. Original gray-blue cloth, floral design on covers in red, blue, green, and black, gray endpapers; blue half-morocco slipcase. Condition: contemporary owner's inscription on front endpaper; spine dulled, some slight scattered rubbing. first edition, first printing with dated title-page and two-line dedication. "In America, 300,000 copies were sold in the first ten years.making it one of the highest-ranking bestsellers of the nineteenth century. It has been successfully translated to the stage, and also into one of the early moving picture colossal super-spectacles" (Grolier). The definitive movie adaptation, starring Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur, was released in 1959 and won 11 Academy Awards. A January 1881 ownership inscription on front endpaper. BAL 20798; Grolier American 82.