Ben Hur

Germany: Ensslin & Laiblins. Very Good+. 1915. Early printing. Hardcover. This book is in Very Good+ condition. This is an early German printing (circa 1915). There is full size pictorial pastedown illustration on the front cover with silver and gilt decorations. The covers have some beginning bumping and fraying to the spine ends and corners. There is a tiny slit to the rear spine joint. The text pages are clean and bright, but do have some toning due to the acid content of the paper. "In 1843, Wallace began writing his first novel, The Fair God, but it was not published until 1873. The popular historical novel, with Cortez's conquest of Mexico as its central theme, was based on William H. Prescott's History of the Conquest of Mexico. Wallace's book sold seven thousand copies in its first year. Its sales continued to rise after Wallace's reputation as an author was established with the publication of subsequent novels. Wallace wrote the manuscript for Ben-Hur, his second and best-known novel, during his spare time at Crawfordsville, and completed it in Santa Fe, while serving as the territorial governor of New Mexico. Ben-Hur, an adventure story of revenge and redemption, is told from the perspective of a Jewish nobleman named Judah Ben-Hur. Because Wallace had not been to the Holy Land before writing the book, he began research to familiarize himself with the area's geography and its history at the Library of Congress in Washington, D. C. , in 1873. Harper and Brothers published the book on November 12, 1880." (from Wikipedia) .