Spanish New Testament: "La Biblia de las Americas", Rebound by Abba Bibles

Cristian Franco has had a number of Bibles rebound by Abba Bibles in México. The latest project we'll showcase is a New Testament originally published in the 1970s. Cristian rescued two copies from Amazon.com and sent one for transformation. Here are the results.

As I said before, in each of these posts, I'll begin with Cristian's description, then share the photos. The captions are written by me. So with no further ado:

Spanish New Testament "La Biblia de las Americas"

I ordered the rebinding of this New Testament when my wife and I were living in Mexico. (I serve the Lord in the Luis Palau Team, and now live here in Argentina). The text is "La Biblia de las Américas", a very special and literal translation made by Lockman Foundation (creators of the NASB translation). I found two copies of this edition (printed in the 70's) at Amazon and I bought them. Then, I sent one of them to Abba Bibles to be rebound. And I ordered it in blue, my favourite color!

This edition is bound in blue calfskin with leather linings, gold page edges, and one ribbon marker. My name is embossed on the cover.

-- Cristian Franco

Above: The blueness of the leather comes through loud and clear in these photos. I'm quite fond of the contrasting stitch around the edge.

Above: Note how the cover wraps around the corner of the page. "Semi-yapp" is interpreted in various ways, some edges more curved than others, but what such covers should have in common is that they embrace the text block in clamshell fashion.

Above: The title page.

Above: Heart-shaped Bible yoga.

Above: The page spread. Notice how much distance there is between the page edge and the cover? My guess is that this started off as a glued edition. The layout is interesting, don't you think? A narrow text column and generous margin for references.

Above: Again, this reminds me of the inside cover of my Crossway Cordovan Calfskin ESVs. I love the clean edge, the leather lining, and the contrasting stitches.

Above: Now this is interesting. Cristian's name is embossed on the cover, but there's no gold gilt applied. Putting names on the cover like this is an old tradition, but one I haven't really indulged in. (I sometimes think I'd be happiest with no imprinting at all, on the front of the spine.) If you're going to do it, I like the subtlety of this approach.

Above: Close-up of the imprinting: Nuevo Testamento.

Above: Very clean. I like the bare spine. What can I say? I'm a minimalist.

Above: One last look.

Comments

[Esteban Vázquez]

This is positively gorgeous! I've often considered buying the full reference edition of the LBLA from Foundation Publications (incidentally, the LBLA is the Spanish equivalent of the NASB) and having it rebound; now I know this can be done quite exquisitely. Thank you for sharing, Cristian!

[Iyov]

Now, this is the nicest rebinding job eatured yet on this blog. I wonder if there is an easy way for US citizens to have Bibles rebound by Abba -- it seems to me that they did a great job (as you point out, very understated.)

Do I understand correctly that the gilting was applied by Abba?

[Kyle Hedrick]

Cristian,

This is simply remarkable. I have had two rebindings by Mechling. Both are good -- neither comes close to this. I echo the question of Iyov: How can we here in the US get a rebinding done at ABBA. I see that Mark has their website link, but there is little information on that site. Thanks.

Kyle

PS. I love the size and print of that New Testament. I wish publishers would bring that size back instead of these dud checkbook things they print!

[Abraham]

Wow...I love this bible...I want it!!!!! :)

I love the LBLA. Ditto with the typeface...looks great.

However, I have a question...I know there will be several posts...however, they are all related to rebound bibles...can we expect any bibles that have not been rebound? Are there any available in the market that are already beautiful to begin with?

Abe

[Jesus Saenz]

I cannot find an email address for Biblias Abba, only a phone number. Does anyone have any other contact information?

[Daniel Jackson]

I'd like to "ditto" the request for more information on rebinding options through Abba. I've been planning on getting a Bible rebound for the last several months, but have been relatively unhappy with all of the results shown in pictures here from US rebinderies. The Abba Bibles presented here in the last few days are stunning.

[Cristian Franco]

Dear Mark: thank you for posting this pictures and making the commentaries below them. It's a fantastic learning process visiting your blog!!!
Brothers, here is the info about Abba Bibles: you can contact them by email. The director is Miguel Olvera (bibabba@prodigy.net.mx) and the Design manager is Lorena Villeda (lorena@abbabibles.com). I think you, US citizens, can do the same I've done (Argentinean citizen): send the Bibles to them by Fedex or DHL, and then ask them to return it to you by the same way. They don't have the credit card paymen option, but you can pay to them using Western Union service (that's the way I used with them with the last Bible they rebounded for me).
About the gilting, yes, they do that also. And for the LBLA, it's the most accurate Bible version in Spanish!!! (it's the "sister" version of NASB).
Blessings to everyone!!!!

[Jesus Saenz]

Cristian, gracias por la informacion sobre Abba Bibles, y tambien por proveer estás fotos y articulos de sus Biblias. Yá envie un email a Lorena.

I have sent an email to Lorena, asking for a quote on all the specifics of my project. I forget how difficult it is to write in Spanish when I haven't done it in such a long time.

[Cristian Franco]

Gracias a ti Jesus!!!! Spanish is the language of Heaven!!! Ha, ha, ha! Bendiciones!

[Scott Newman]

Hi Mark,

I have a couple comments on these Abba rebinds. First of all, Biblias Abba is the company that does the Calfskin binding for Crossway, the Lockman Foundation and several other bible Publishers. The reason that the binding job on Christian's bible reminds him of Crossway's Cordovan calfskin is that it's the same people doing the binding!!!

Secondly, I have had several of my English (and Greek) bibles rebound by Abba. Grace Books International (The bookstore at Grace Community Church where John MacArthur is the pastor) has a connection with Abba and sends bibles down there regularly to be rebound. Their prices are fairly reasonable but they take a long time to complete the orders and send them back. My ESV reference bible and Greek New Testament both took 6 months to get back.

Hopefully this information can be helpful!! God bless!!

-Scott

[matt morales]

WOW. these are nice!!!

Let me get this straight...

Abba Bibles does only rebinding of bibles?

Do they put red under gold gilting? or just gold gilting?

Do they only specialize in calfskin as of now?

And about how much in US Dollars can one expect to spend in a rebind?

this makes me proud to be part hispanic!!! Bible binding is the one thing that will get me to brush up on my espanol.