Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ Readers also credited Wallace's novel with making Jesus's story more believable by providing vivid descriptions of the Holy Land and inserting his own character of Judah into scenes from the gospels. One former alcoholic, George Parrish from Kewanee, Illinois, wrote the author a letter crediting "Ben-Hur" with causing him to reject alcohol and find religion. Parrish remarked: "It seemed to bring Christ home to me as nothing else could". Others who were inspired by the novel dedicated themselves to Christian service and became missionaries, some of them helping to translate "Ben-Hur" into other languages. This kind of religious support helped
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ State 3]. The book is dedicated "To the Wife of My Youth". This dedication appears in the first printing run of about 5,000 copies, all either in the first edition, first state binding, or in two alternate bindings. In an 1887 printing of "Ben-Hur" at the Rare Books Department of the Cincinnati Public Library, Lew Wallace wrote to Alexander Hill: "My Dear Friend Hill—When "Ben-Hur" was finished, I told my wife it was to be dedicated to her, and that she must furnish the inscription. She wrote 'To the Wife of My Youth' / The book became popular; then I