The First Christmas

New York: Harper and Brothers, 1902. First Thus. Octavo (21cm). Original purple cloth, stamped in silver and gilt, top edge gilt, with original grey typographic dust jacket; plain endpapers; [xii],[109]pp; frontispiece and three plates laid down on inserted leaves, with marginal ornaments printed in orange throughout. Bookplate of G. F. Mitchell. Straight and tight, gently rubbed, with fading along edges and base of spine matching damage to jacket, occasional spots of foxing: Very Good. Jacket trimmed at corners, priced $1.25 on spine and front, browned at spine, rubbed and tattered at upper edge, with 2-inch loss at base of spine, else Very Good.

An excerpt from Ben-Hur issued as a gift book, illustrated by William Martin Johnson and printed in two colors. Uncommon in jacket, with only one jacketed copy appearing at auction in the past fifty years.