Description
Limited edition of Ben-Hur by Lew Wallace, including a handwritten letter to the publisher’s about potential copyright infringement of this book.
Octavo, [two volumes], [1]-438pp; 439-854pp. Bound in vellum, with title in gilt on spine and front cover. Gilt borders to front cover of each volume. Solid text blocks, with some wear to gutters. Heavy creasing to vellum along fore edge of each volume. Lightly soiled covers, mostly along spines. Stated copy 131 of 350 on limitation page in both volumes, known as the Garfield Edition. Complete with twenty total illustrations with tissue guards: ten in each volume, including frontispieces. Letter from the author to the publisher laid in at front of Volume I. Reads “… … March 22nd. ’95. Messrs Harper and Brothers, Gentlemen. I saw some weeks ago a newspaper paragraph to the effect that the Solicitor of the Treasury Dep’t has reported that Ben-Hur, having been copyrighted in 1880, was not within the law of 1891; so there was nothing to prevent the importation of foreign editions of the book. / This, if approved, seems far reaching. Please inform me of the exact effect of the report, and what steps, if any, you have taken in the matter. Respectfully, Lew Wallace.”
