Bible Design and Binding

Brian's Stack of Bibles

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas, full of peace and good will. Brian, a frequent reader of the Bible Design and Binding Blog, sent me a photo of his stack of Bibles, including a very interesting antique! From bottom to top, here's a list of what's on display:

ESV Deluxe Heirloom Calfskin
NASB Single Column Black Letter Text in Calfskin
ESV Allan's Highland Goatskin with Art Gilt Edges
KJV Black Letter Text, Wide Margin, Art Gilt Edges, Calfskin
KJV Compact, Art Gilt Edges, Calfskin
NKJV Nelson Signature in Calfskin
ASV in Goatskin, Black Letter Text, Thumb-Indexed, Art Gilt Edges, Published by Thomas Nelson and Sons

Thanks, Brian, for sharing the photo. I wonder how the cover of that ASV in goatskin has held up over the years?

To everyone in the Bible Design & Binding Blog community, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I've enjoyed our conversations and look forward to many more in the year to come!

A Rebound ESV by Paul Sawyer

Rebinding is a hot topic in our little community, so I've asked a number of readers to share the results they've had. First up is Matt Morales, who recently had an ESV Wide Margin re-sized and bound in brown goatskin by Paul Sawyer. I haven't seen this one in person, but based on the photographs Matt sent for this feature, it appears to be superb.

Matt specified a cover in brown Russel's Nigerian goatskin, a hand-finished product with a natural soft grain similar to that found on R. L. Allan's editions. The cover is lined in burgundy silk, and the page edges have been colored a light brown with a "gloss" on top, which Matt says turned out quite nice. Matt sourced the ribbon himself and provided it to Paul Sawyer (and he's generously offered to help other readers with ribbon, as well). As you can see from the photos, the spine has raised bands and antique gold imprinting.

The original wide-margin was resized slightly from 6x9 to 5.5x8.5, leaving a one inch margin. This removed the factory gilt edges, and also brought the size in line with an Allan's ESV. Matt measured the thickness at 1.3 inches, too. "In all I was looking for a wide margin with the feel of a hand size Allans," Matt says, "and it is pretty close."

Rick Mansfield Reviews the TNIV Reference Bible

I hope you've already got Rick Mansfield's excellent blog bookmarked, but just in case, I want to mention that he's posted a hands-on review of the TNIV Reference Bible, and a follow-up that features his own mock-up for a wide-margin edition (which looks great). Unfortunately, it looks like the publishers are sticking with that oddball font choice -- otherwise, the design seems very attractive. It's a single column setting, which always warms my heart. If you haven't already, be sure to check it out.

Snapshot of an Allan's NRSV in Goatskin

Mark Strobel had kindly sent along a snapshot of his new R. L. Allan NRSV bound in goatskin. I haven't seen one of these up close and personal yet, but the photo certainly whets my appetite. The typeface looks clean and modern, and the use of dotted lines in the center column reminds me of the Cambridge Pocket Cross-Reference I reviewed earlier.

If you're looking for a nice edition of the NRSV, I don't imagine you'd go wrong with this one. It's available from Bibles-Direct.com and sells for £65.00, which works out to about $133 in our increasingly worthless American money.

Allan's ESV with Updated Text ... June 2008?

Reader Stuart Mazz e-mailed me with the latest news from R. L. Allan about the availability of the updated text in their ESV offerings. It looks like June 2008 is the sweet spot:

"I read on the review of Allan’s ESV Tan Goatskin that the new edition would be out in 2008… I just got off the phone with Allan’s & they told me I should probably wait till June 2008 if I wanted the latest version that will be exactly the same as the one they offer now only it will be the updated version! Thought you might like to let your readers know."

So for those of you itching to get an Allan's ESV, but holding out for the updated text, it looks like you have about seven months to wait. If I hear anything more, I'll pass it along.

More on Upcoming New Cambridge Paragraph Bible

Thanks to Kevin Edgecomb, there's some new information on when the smaller editions of the New Cambridge Paragraph Bible might appear in 2008. Kevin posted this reply to his inquiry from Chris Wright, the Publishing Manager for Bibles at Cambridge University Press:

We do intend to publish the New Cambridge Paragraph Bible in smaller formats using the updated text, and have said as much informally to various people, but we have not yet committed to a definite schedule or publication date. Given the current state of our publishing commitments, and the completion of the editorial process, I do now see an opportunity arising next year so I would hope to bring these out during the second half or towards the end of 2008.

That confirms what I reported in October, when the word was "the second half of 2008." I'm looking forward to the smaller NCPB, no matter when it comes. As I hear more, I'll pass it along.

Order an ESV, Get Rethinking Worldview at 50% Off

Our friends at Crossway have extended a special offer to Bible Design & Binding Blog readers! From now until December 14, when you buy an ESV Bible from Crossway, you can also get my book Rethinking Worldview: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This World at 50%. That works out to just $8.50 per book, the lowest price available anywhere. If your total order exceeds $30, Crossway throws in free shipping. Look at the nifty banner, and then I'll explain how this works.

What you'll need to do is click on the banner, which will take you to the Bible page at Crossway.org. Add whatever Bible(s) you'd like to the shopping cart. Then, add a copy of Rethinking Worldview to your cart, too. It will show up at the 50% price. The only catch is, to get the discount, you'll have to add Rethinking Worldview to your cart.