Noteworthy Collection TNIV New Testament

When the Journaling Bible came out with its Moleskine-inspired look, I figured it wouldn't be long before others appeared. Yesterday, David Swain tipped me off to the "Noteworthy Collection," a new edition of the TNIV New Testament coming out in August. It's a Moleskine-style format (6.63 x 3.13) complete with elastic strap and accordion pocket in back, featuring a single column text setting on one side of the spread, and a black page for notes on the other. They'll be available in bonded leather -- black, burgundy and tan. I've pre-ordered a tan one and will review it when they come out.

This strikes me as a particularly clever approach, combining the "blank Bible" concept with its interleaved pages, and the elastic strap and accordion pocket of the Moleskine. It's a shame they won't be offering a hardback, or polyurethane covers instead of bonded leather. But there's good news for TNIV readers who don't like the odd font choice featured in so many editions. The PDF page proofs reveal that a less "scripty" serif font has been chosen for the typesetting.

I don't think I've ever seen a New Testament with interleaved pages for note-taking. Whether it will work depends a great deal on the quality of paper. With a wide margin, any notes that bleed through show up in the margin on the opposite page, but with an interleaved edition, they'll mar the text itself. You probably wouldn't want to take many notes on cheap paper. But if the bleed-through is addressed, I could see this being a very clever format. I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Comments

[Joanna]

If the quality is good that looks to be a great buy. I'll be watching out for that one.

[Jacob Douvier]

Mark, do you prefer to write notes on a lined page or a blank page? One of the things I like about the journaling Bible is the lined margins. I have found, for some reason, that I can fit more on to a lined page. I think this TNIV product would be more appealing to me if the page wasn't blank, but I suppose we do need some place to draw our end-times diagrams and charts.

[J. Mark Bertrand]

My end times diagrams and charts would never fit in such a small space. :) When I was in grad school, I used to take copious notes in unlined, spiral bound sketchbooks. I still have them, and I'm amazed how neat they look. Today I think I'd veer all over the page. Lined notepaper for me, thank you. But in an application like this, I can see the virtue of both. The problem some people have with the lined margins in the Journaling Bible is that the lines don't correspond to how they write. With a blank page, you're free. My marginal notes in a Bible tend to be all over the place (in more ways than one), so a blank margin works fine.

[Kyle]

Thanks for the heads up. I also love the Moleskines and have used them for several years. One of the great things about the Moleskines is that they are sewn and lay flat. I have the sneaking suspicion that these will not be sewn or have the same quality especially since they retail at 14.99 and a Moleskine Journal goes for around 16.99 retail now. I hope I'm wrong. This is a great concept. Looking forward to your review.

[Dave]

Kyle,

This is the same size as existing T/NIV Trimline Bibles that are sewn, surprisingly, although they don't lay flat very well. The pages on the trimlines are very thin, so hopefully that is remedied with this. I'm not holding my breath at this price, though.

[Jerry]

So, the right side page is blank for note taking, eh? More discrimination against southpaws.