News About Upcoming ESV and TNIV Editions

A couple of items of interest:

ESV PITT MINION NEWS
David Dewey checked in earlier in the month with some updated info on the Cambridge ESV Pitt Minion:

They expect to have stock (i.e. delivery from the binders who are in Europe) in late July or August, and they now anticipate a publication date of September. I imagine this will be applicable to the UK and USA simultaneously. Although it will take time to get stock across the Atlantic, they are not going to want two different publication dates.

As has already been mentioned in comments to an earlier post, the Cambridge editions have shown up on Amazon for pre-order:

(1) Brown Goatskin
(2) Black Goatskin
(3) Burgundy French Morocco
(4) Tan Imitation Leather

Keep in mind that Amazon release dates are subject to change.

A PREMIUM LEATHER TNIV
Nathan Stitt passed along this link to a post about an upcoming edition of the TNIV "bound in our new premium, hand crafted leather." No indication of what kind of leather -- calfskin, I assume -- but it's nice to see Zondervan supporting one of their translations in this way. The TNIV Reference Bible stripped of its terrible stiff bonded leather cover and equipped with a quality leather one? Sounds good to me.

Comments

[Matthew Johnson]

I mentioned this in another thread but it bears repeating here: buyer beware of the French Moroccan leather from Cambridge. I have a nice, soft one in the RSV that is nice but when I ordered the NRSV in FML it was awful. Stiff as a board. I can't even be sure that it's real leather.

[Patrick Chan]

By any chance do you know whether the forthcoming Cambridge ESV Pitt Minion Bibles will also feature a single-column format? Cool, thanks!

[James Thompson]

Any idea whether Cambridge will also release a wide-margin hardcover ESV along with the Pitt Minion? This has been their typical SOP lately but I haven't heard anything about a hardcover. Any insight or rumors?

[Greg Terry]

Matthew: I, too ordered, received and sent back one of those NRSVs in French Morocco for the same reason - awful and stiff supposedly leather binding. However, in my local Christian bookstore they have some of the Cambridge KJV Personal Concord Reference Bibles in French Morocco and they are FAR AND AWAY more flexible and exactly the type of leather one would expect from a quality Bible with the Cambridge name on it. The KJV Personal Concord has only been out a few months. I suspect that the NRSV has been the exception. At least I hope so.

[Greg Terry]

Patrick:

The Pitt Minion is a double column with a center reference format. So, no it won't be a single column. However Crossway has a nice single column Personal Reference ESV. Check out their website at:

http://www.crossway.org/catalog/bibles/

look for Personal Reference editions. The Genuine Leather cover is pretty stiff but does loosen up some with use. The genuine leather edition is the only one of the PR edition with a sewn binding.

James:

According to the Cambridge catalog, they will release a wide margin version of the ESV in similar editions as their other wide margins, but the publication date for the wide margin is around the end of the year.

[J. Newell]

Next question, if I may :-) Is there any indication of whether any of these will be black letter editions?

[David Dewey]

The four editions will be black goatskin with red letter, brown goatskin with black letter, burgundy French Morocco with red letter, and two-tone tan/burgundy with black letter text. The goatskin editions will have art-gilt edges. UK prices, according to Cambridge, are not yet fixed, though Amazon.com puts the goatskins at US$130 (=£65 sterling). The other editions will be cheaper.

[Alan]

I'm leaning toward getting the new Allen's ESV, but if they spaced the release date far enough apart on the Pitt Minion...

Honestly, I don't really need both. I probably won't be able to resist the Allen's.

I'd love to see a premium edition ESV in a personal size single column. I'd also love to find a high quality New Testament ESV.

Thanks for the update!

[Kathy]

Amazon has changed the release dates for the Cambridge ESV; October 2008 for the Pitt Minion and February 2009 for the wide margin editions.

Does anyone know if any of the wide margin editions will be black letter?

[David N]

I just saw that Amazon changed the release date to October. And they're still telling me that the expected ship date is July 7! :)

[James Thompson]

Mark: Keep up the good work. I have really appreciated your articles. And, I agree with your overall sentiment about quality, you get what you pay for! Well, the “Bertrand spell” has overwhelmed me and I purchased the ESV goatskin by Allen. I went back to your October 16, 2007 article on Allen’s Tan ESV and placed my order. Cambridge’s Pitt Minion is just a little small for me. I’ll let you know what I think, if you’d like, once I get the bible in my hands.

[Stan McCullars]

I'm very much looking forward to a quality edition of the TNIV, and the TNIV Reference Bible at that.

[Nathan Stitt]

That link is broken now because he renamed his blog. Here's an updated link if anyone is interested:

http://newleaven.com/2008/06/17/breaking-news-from-zondervan/

[R.]

Mark,

Thanks for this fascinating blog. Thanks to your excellent coverage of this topic, I just got my first real leather Bible. The KJV Concord Refrence Bible in black French Morocco from Cambridge.

Question: The leather cover is very stiff compared to my TNIV The Bible Experience DuoTone. Will it (my Concord Ref.) become more flexible over time with use?

Thanks & God bless.

(And yes, I am actually READING my Cambridge Bible. No, "museum-piece Bibles" in my home! Maybe except for the study Bibles. Used them heavily in high school. Not so much right now.)

[Brad Schrum]

I just have a quick question--I am going to get the ESV Pitt Minion as my first quality Bible, and I am just wondering if it would be a wise idea to pre-order it from Amazon?

[James Thompson]

Brad - I'm a long time member of Amazon. They've been very good over the years. If there was an article I wanted and the price was right I wouldn't hesitate to purchase it through them. Hope that helps.

[Brad Schrum]

Thanks James. I've been using Amazon for a few months now and know that they are very good.

I'm wondering more about pre-ordering than I am about Amazon. Anyone have any experience?

[Ralph A Abernethy]

Amazon's great! I probably get 85% of my books from there -- and most of my Bibles.

[Jerry]

I pre-ordered my Brown Goatskin Cambridge ESV Pitt-Minion from Amazon today.

They were showing a pre-order price of $81.89 with super-saver shipping.

[David N]

Brad,

I would DEFINITELY pre-order with Amazon, and soon. If you pre-order now, and sometime in the next few months the price goes up from $81, they will still only charge you the $81 price! At least, that's what Amazon told me when I pre-ordered. In fact, when I pre-ordered last week the price was still $129, but now it's showing me $81.

So yes, I would pre-order now and lock in that much lower price.

[Thomas Blackburn]

Although a little off topic, I just have to tell someone who'd care and this is the best place. I was in the local "half-price" bookstore today and found a mint condition, leather cover, 1950 "Dickson New Analytical Study Bible" on the shelf. They obviously didn't know what they had as it was only priced at $29. The conditon is really awesome - not a mark in it. I shined it up with some leather conditioner and it sparkles, looks like it came off the shelf yesterday. The Dickson is no longer published although many consider it the greatest study Bible of all time. They are hard to find, especially in this kind of condition. What a great day!

[tc robinson]

I'm looking forward to this new look TNIV RB. Recently Zondervan and I ran a promotional on my blog about this Bible.

[ElShaddai Edwards]

FYI, I've posted some details on my website about the new ESV w/Apocrypha:

http://heissufficient.net/2008/07/15/oxford-university-press-and-the-esv-apocrypha/

It was commissioned and is being produced by Oxford University Press, presumably revising the RSV text as with the ESV OT/NT. It is scheduled to be released on Feb 1, 2009. So far hardback only it looks like.

[David Ahrens]

I know this isn't germaine to the thread, but thought some here would be interested. I had preordered the new text tan goatskin ESV personal reference from Allan's a number of months ago. It was originally set to ship in June, then revised to late July. Well, I emailed them the other day to check the status and received this disappointing news:

"Dear David

Thank you for your enquiry about the Allan ESV.

Our binder has just reported that the sheets received from the printer cannot be bound up with the Oxford maps we are including in this edition. We have therefore had to reprint the sheets and this will mean a delay until September for bound copies."

The bibles-direct website is now indicating a September release as well.

God is teaching me patience - and of course I am happy to wait if that wait ensures a superior bible.

- David

[Janis]

I just saw that evangelicalbible.com is now carrying the Cambridge ESV's at a very good price. The Pitt Minions are available for pre-order.

Now if only Cambridge or Allan's would print an ESV with font larger than 9.5, I'd be happy!

[Cicero]

Is the Brown ESV Pitt Minion going to be red-letter or black-letter? On evangelicalbible.com, it says it is red-letter, but an earlier post in this blog said it was black-letter.