Messala (Ben-Hur) she mentioned. In contrast with the 1925 version Messala is delighted when he hears that Judah has come to see him and still cares for his childhood friend before falling out over their different beliefs. In the book, Messala does not tell Judah that his mother and sister are alive. Another difference between the book and the film is that Messala and Gratus taking the Hur wealth is not part of the film's plot. In the 2003 animated film, Messala was voiced by Duncan Fraser. The character is quite different to the 1959 film. In this version he asks Ben-Hur
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ million copies of the book were sold, and in 1913, Sears Roebuck ordered another one million copies, at that time the largest single-year print edition in American history, and sold them for 39 cents apiece. Within 20 years of its publication, "Ben-Hur" was "second only to the Bible as the best-selling book in America", and remained in second position until Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" (1936) surpassed it. A 1946 edition of "Ben-Hur" published by Grosset and Dunlap boasted that 26 million copies of the novel were in print. With the release of the 1959 film adaptation of the