Bible Design and Binding

Giving Your Bible Away

In the comments a few days ago, Dan Edelen of Cerulean Sanctum fame shared this story:

I won a sales contest in Bibles one year and the top Bible awarded was an NIV Study Bible in top grain. But because I had gone so far over the limit on sales, I asked Zondervan if they'd send me the Moroccan leather--and they did! So I owned that Bible myself.

But in one of "those" kinds of stories, I encountered a man who was searching for Christ. We worked together and I was leaving to work elsewhere. On my last day, he asked me, "Where can I find a Bible that can help me understand what I'm reading?" I thought about it and gave him that goatskin NIV Bible. I knew he had no idea how much it cost, but I pray it proved infinitely more valuable to him than what I might have received from it.

This story strikes a chord with me. The first "nice" Bible I ever had was a Cambridge KJV wide-margin in Berkshire leather with a thick red ribbon. No one in town seemed to stock Cambridge Bibles back then, so I'd ordered it sight unseen from the catalog, then waited for what seemed like months for the bookstore to call (since one couldn't order direct back then). It arrived in a magnificent slipcase and filled the room with the scent of leather.

Addendum: NRSV XL

In my earlier review of the new Standard NRSV and Go Anywhere NRSV published by Harper Collins, I mentioned the NRSV XL only in passing. At the time of writing, I hadn't seen one in person. Now I have, and I'm both impressed and baffled.

I'm impressed because, of the three editions available, the XL has by far the best cover. It's imitation leather, but not hardback like the Standard and not as bulky, textured and two-toned as the Go Anywhere. Instead, the XL is offered in an attractive solid tan and an even classier dark brown. As the name suggests, the XL is a bigger Bible -- the official trim size is 7.5 x 8, and the essentially square format is actually quite attractive. In spite of the size, it feels good in the hand. Opening it up, the layout is impressive, too. It's a large print Bible. The copy on the Harper Collins site assures us that "no one will feel that they have been relegated to ugly and bulky larger print editions by purchasing an XL," and they're absolutely right. The XL looks good, and the interior (unlike the Go Anywhere) rivals the Standard NRSV in elegance.

Now here's why I'm baffled: once again, it feels like some great pieces were on the design table, but they were assembled the wrong way. The cover feels great and looks great, but the XL is just too big. I understand it's a large print -- but I don't need one. If you do, and you like the NRSV, there is no downside. Both the Standard NRSV and the Go Anywhere appear to have sewn bindings, so presumably the XL does too (I didn't check). But I would like the Standard much better if it had a cover like the XL. By putting the most attractive color/cover options on the most specialized of the three offerings, it seems like Harper Collins has missed an opportunity.

What I'd love to see, in a future run, is the interior setting of the Standard NRSV reduced down to about 75% of its current size, with the same tan and dark brown cover options as the XL. (And while I'm wishing, I'd put two ribbons in it, as well.) Then you'd have the ultimate NRSV and probably the most attractive Bible at the low end of the price range.

Storing Your Bible

Q. I now have quite a few Bibles, some of which are premium leather, what is the best way to store these? Flat? In a bookshelf? In their original box?

A. The old time preacher in me is saying, "Bibles are meant to be used, not stored!" But I know exactly what you mean. Tolstoy once asked, "How much land does a man need?" My wife has wondered the same thing about Bibles. Growing up, I had just one Bible -- a gift, no less -- and it never occurred to me until my early twenties that it was possible to buy another. Once I got the bug, though, I never stopped, and this site is a testament to that fact.

A Guide for Beginners

Q. I'm shopping for a new Bible, and I don't have a clue about binding or the different types of leather. What do I need to know to make a good choice?

A. To keep things simple, I'll break the answer down into six basic points. I invite readers to add their own insight in the comments, too. Here goes:

1. A binding can be either (a) sewn or (b) glued. Sewn bindings are better quality and will last longer, but glued bindings are cheaper. If you've ever had pages -- or whole sections -- fall out of your Bible after use, the odds are it had a glued binding. If you're looking for a Bible that will last, get one with a sewn binding. Having said that, if you're careful with a glued binding, it can last a good while, too.

Daily Reading Bible (ESV)

Since I review a lot of Crossway products here, I should offer a disclaimer. Yes, Crossway is the publisher of my book Rethinking Worldview: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This World. So it goes without saying I have a good relationship with them and think they do a wonderful job. But it wasn't always that way. When I first started writing about Bibles, the bulk of my criticism was aimed at the good folks in Wheaton, Illinois. Why? Because I liked the new English Standard Version translation but hated the bindings. That criticism opened a door. Crossway took my feedback in stride and asked for more. In time, they acted on an idea of mine which resulted in the Journaling Bible, and when they found out I'd written a book about worldviews, which is one of their core subjects, they were anxious to take a look.

I'm grateful for all that. But it hasn't tempered my criticism. When I like what Crossway's doing, I share it, and when I don't, I share that, too. I didn't make a secret of my lack of enthusiasm over the Single Column Reference Bible, for example -- as much as I want more single-column settings, I don't want to see verse-by-verse rather than paragraphed text. By the same token, when Crossway does something praiseworthy and inventive, I'm going to say so -- and that's my transition to the Daily Reading Bible.

IF THIS IS THE SOLUTION, WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
In a word: literacy. One of the things I've learned as a teacher is that Christians don't know their Bibles as well as they should. (And I include myself here.) The only solution is reading, and there are dozens of reading plans out there designed to encourage just that. One that I've always been fond of is the One Year Bible, because it divides the text up as needed and makes following the reading schedule easy as can be. As a result, I've promoted the One Year Bible for years as an easy way to integrate daily Bible reading into a life. There's always been one problem, though.

Inside an Allan's Reference ESV

From time to time, I intend to post answers to some of the most frequently asked questions I receive. The biggest by far has to be this one:

Q. How does the interior of the Allan's Reference ESV differ from the one available from Crossway?

A. Not a lot. R. L. Allan's is essentially taking a text block printed by Collins, the UK publisher of the ESV, and binding it. Type style and size are the same. The biggest difference you will notice is that the UK edition does not put the words of Christ in red. Also absent are the book introductions familiar from the American version. You may run across the occasional Anglicized spelling, but if you're familiar with the Classic Reference edition published by Crossway, there will be no big shocks when you open the Allan's ESV. The difference is the binding and the art-gilt edges.

Standard and Go Anywhere Bibles (NRSV)

When I started writing about Bible binding and design, what drove me was my frustration at not being able to find a quality edition -- at any price. "Genuine" leather felt more like cardboard and even the deluxe Bibles seemed to fall apart with frequent use. Bonded leather was my bete noire, and if you'd told me I'd be singing the praises of fake leathers a few years later, I would have -- in the words of the King James Version -- laughed you to scorn.

But it's happened. As far as I'm concerned, there are only two options these days for readers who plan to actually use their Bibles. Spend a lot of money and get a high quality binding (like the ones reviewed here) or check out the ultra-cheap imitations. Give bonded leather a pass and don't buy anything that claims to be genuine or top grain leather until you've handled it. There are exceptions, of course -- Cambridge turns out some good bonded leather, for example -- but as a rule the wise options seem to be on either end of the spectrum, not in the middle. Which brings me to Harper Collins and the new NRSVs.

It may be a staple of academics and mainline denominations, but when it comes to interesting, high-quality editions, the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is surprisingly under served. Oxford offers a nice pocket edition, but that's about it. So when I heard that Harper Collins planned to release a series of new editions, I was thrilled. I pre-ordered two of them, the Standard Bible and the Go Anywhere Bible. One of them is a sad waste of an opportunity, and the other is spectacular.

Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible (NIV)

Several years ago, two new study Bibles hit the market, both of them genetically related to the New Geneva Study Bible, which appeared in the mid-1990s and positioned itself as a successor to the original Geneva Bible. Rather idiosyncratically, the NGSB features the New King James Version, an update of the Authorized Version with textual notes reflecting variants from the Textus Receptus, the Critical Text, and the Majority Text of the New Testament. One of the newcomers, the Reformation Study Bible, replaced the NKJV text with the new English Standard Version, but otherwise it was very similar to its predecessor. The other, the Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, used the older New International Version -- but its notes were greatly expanded, offering a better window into the state of Reformed theology today, and it also included an index of Reformed confessional standards and catechisms.

If you ask me, the Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible is the better of the two.

Personal Size Reference ESV to Feature Single-Column Text

A couple of years ago, I posted a mock-up of what a single-column, paragraphed, referenced edition of the ESV Bible might look like. Today, there's no need for mock-ups because we have a preview of the real thing. At long last, Crossway has announced the Personal Size Reference Bible, which will be available in early 2008.

I'm excited about this because for years now, I've been stumping for a hand-sized, paragraphed, single-column setting, and the Personal Size Reference is all those things. It measures 5" x 7.25", which makes it a little handier than the 5.5" x 8.5" of the Classic Reference and the Classic Thinline, but is a bit larger than the 3.75" x 5.75" of the Compact Thinline, which many people find a bit too small. The Compact Thinline has 6.2-pt. type, which makes it hard to read in lower light -- I sometimes have to bring mine up to my face to make out the words -- whereas the new Personal Size Reference has 7.4-pt. type. It appears to be set in Veritas, the new font introduced along with the Outreach Edition early last year, which is designed to be "readable at smaller sizes than some other fonts." (Update: My eyes deceived me on this one, as I'm reliably informed that the typeface is Stone Serif.)

A PDF of the first few chapters of Matthew is online so you can try out the Personal Size Reference for yourself.

Marginal Interest? Why You Need A Wide-Margin Bible

If you've been around this site for any length of time -- five seconds ought to do it -- you know that I'm an opinionated, hair-splitting sort of fellow. For everything I like about a particular edition of the Bible, there are a dozen things I want to change, and I'll be the first to admit that some of my demands are a little unrealistic. Despite what some people think, the folks who publish Bibles do it out of a sense of vocation. They're not out to shaft the end user. The generally poor quality of contemporary Bible design and binding has as much to do with economy and the changing face of publishing as anything else.

But you know what? I'm an idealist. My strategy is simple: if we're all graciously demanding, then the quality and options we see in the market will improve.

REALLY BASIC
As far as I'm concerned, some features ought to be basic in Bible publishing. Text should be paragraphed, set in readable modern type and formatted in a single column. Bindings should be genuine leather, spines sewn, and every Bible should come with at least two ribbons -- and they should be wide, too, not the dinky little strings that never lay flat between the pages. Every publisher of every translation should consider it essential to produce at least one edition that meets this criteria. Sadly, most don't publish any that do.