A Greek NT Rebound by Mechling

Dave Doyle recently sent his Reader's Edition of the Greek New Testament to Mechling for rebinding, and he was kind enough to write about the experience and share some photos. Let's take a look:

Dave writes:

"When the Reader’s Edition of the UBS Greek New Testament was announced I knew that I wanted a copy. My Greek has gotten rusty since Seminary despite all my efforts to keep it healthy and happy. At least this way I could struggle myself through a passage, so I pre-ordered it from Amazon and waited.

"When it arrived I was pleased with everything but the cover as it was the standard UBS burgundy cardboard. But I knew that I didn’t have to settle for that cardboard cover as I’ve been ruined by Mark Bertrand. I knew about rebinding! I searched the web for options, read the blogs and settled on Mechling as they had all the options I wanted."

"The Bible arrived on a Monday and on Tuesday it was on its way to Chicora, PA. I received it back the following Thursday – a very quick turn around. I had chosen the “Deluxe Leather Bible Binding Package.” You can check the website for details.

"The bottom line is that I’m pleased with the job they did and would do it again. But it’s not exactly as I expected."

"Here are the details. While advertising a very flexible (floppy) cover it is no where near the floppyness of the Premium Calfskin Crossway ESV Single Column Reference Bible. You can see from the pictures that the ESV is much more flexible than the Mechling. That means when you lay the Bible down and are working from the edges (I’m preaching through Revelation currently) the ESV stays open without a problem while the Mechling tends to close if something isn’t placed on it. Perhaps this will improve over time as the leather breaks in – I suspect it will."

"The cover feels like a middle point between the cheap feeling leather covers of the ESV 'genuine leather' editions and the suppleness of the Allen or Premium Calfskin ESVs. It’s thicker and has great grain."

"The quality of the binding work is incredible. Here Mechling gets top marks – the spine stamping, the raised bands, the ribbons are all perfect. I’m pleased that the ribbons are as long as they are – no problem getting them around the pages (Crossway could take note here and make their ribbons longer)."

"I’m glad I did this and know that I’ll be using this Bible for many years."

-- Dave Doyle

Thanks, Dave, for sharing the results of your project. I appreciate the great photos, too. I should note for the record, though, that I actually love those little burgundy hardbacks -- they open flat!

Comments

[David]

Yep, I was mislead by Mechling's website the way they advertise floppy cover in their deluxe rebinding package. It's anything but floppy. They use boards between the cover and end sheets/lining. The raised bands and stamping was good like yours, but overall, not what I expected. They don't know how to bind a true leather edged binding. There are only a few manufactures that employ what is in my opinion, the best binding for a Bible. Allan is one of them.

You can send a bible to Mexico and have leather edged binding put on, but it's a hassle.

God Bless,
David

[Michael Swoveland]

Dave,

It is good to see you take as much pride in your Greek NT as you do in your English Bible. I know too many people who will buy a top of the line English Bible and then get a cheap paperback or hardback Greek NT. I hate to see the Greek treated as somehow less the Word of God than the English translation.

Looks like Mechling did a good job, I would guess that because the Greek NT is so much smaller and thinner than the whole Bible that it is a harder project for a binder. I have a TBS Textus Receptus that I have been thinking about having rebound, but I have yet to pull the trigger. It is currently bound in black calfskin that I am sort of fond of, but it is very stiff. In fact it will not even lay open at the middle. My concern is that, given the size, a rebind may not fix this issue.

[Nathan Stitt]

Keep in mind that this GNT is a full size Reader's Edition that is much larger than most GNT. I believe it's dimensions are 11 x 7 x 1.3 inches.

[Alan Kurschner]

Dave,

You have inspired me to have Mechling bind a readers UBS for myself (LeatherBibles.com is insanely too long). I have a couple of questions though. Should I purchase a soft or hardcover for them to bind in leather since maybe the sewn binding is different? Or are they the same?

Also, is there something you would have them do differently to the Bible if you had to do it over again? It's too bad that the cover was not as flexible as you thought it would be.

I may ask them to bind it exactly how they bound yours, except I am not a fan of satin ribbons—I like the "knitted" ones.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Alan

[Alan Kurschner]

Mark,

Not sure if you are aware but this blog post does not show up in the March archive. Maybe there are other blog posts that have a glitch as well. Just a heads up.

Thanks

[Bill Lawless]

That is a beautiful piece of work. The only leather bound GNT I have seen was one my seminary prof had at Southwestern. I had mine rebound by McSpadden. You can see it here: http://billsbible.blogspot.com. I enjoy your blog. I wish I had been reading it years ago. You turned me on to the Allan and now my wife and I both have one. She has the tan and I have the black.