Know what would make an awesome single-column NRSV? At the risk of killing the suspense, I'll tell you. Start with Oxford's single-column, hardback Notetaker's Bible, lop off the wide margins, and give what's left the Poor Man's Geneva Bible treatment. Or, you could leave it like it is and enjoy a pretty awesome wide margin hardback which, unlike so many hardbacks on the market, is actually made like a quality book. Here it is:
I know, I know. It's a hardcover. And people think I don't approve of anything but goatskin. But that's far from the case. If you read through the archive of posts here, you'll see that I've been a fan of hardcover Bibles for a long while. The problem is, many of the options out there don't live up to their potential. They're glued instead of bound. The boards have tacky artwork printed right on them. They don't open flat. The paper is terrible. Sometimes, having said I like the idea of a hardcover edition, I've found myself in the awkward position of not being able to recommend one.
A QUALITY HARDCOVER
Happily, that's not the case here. Not even close. The text setting is elegant and well-proportioned and the book is nicely produced. So many books these days look like they were made by people who hate books. This one gives the opposite impression. According to the packaging it was made in Korea and uses "thicker paper that prevents tearing and bleed through." And guess what? "Its open margins are perfect for your open mind"!
This is a paragraphed, text-only edition that just happens to have wide, ruled margins in the Journaling Bible vein. It comes with a single ribbon. As the packaging suggests, the paper is nice and white, though you can see some "ghosting" -- i.e., the print impression from the reverse of the page shows through. Actually, this is a good example of why I prefer a term like ghosting for that phenomenon, rather than "bleed through," which really refers to whether ink applied to the page (when you write, for example) bleeds through the paper. Oxford isn't claiming the paper is opaque; they're claiming that with "a pen designed for writing in Bibles" you shouldn't experience bleed through.
Above: No concordance, no maps, just a couple of blank pages at the end.
Below: Nice endpapers, too.
DID I SAY QUALITY? THIS IS DELUXE
This is the Deluxe Cloth edition, and if you're planning to use the Notetaker's Bible as is, forgoing my radical surgery and rebinding suggestion, then don't settle for anything else. It's a quality hardback with a luxe feel. The ridged cloth feels great in the hand. The book has a nice heft without being too bulky, thicker but also shorter than your Fagles copy of The Iliad. (You don't have Fagles' translation of The Iliad? Get one, and a nice Odyssey to go with it.)
Unlike the soft leather Bibles I like to pose on the bookshelf, this one I'd actually store there. I would not, however, store it on the radiator (see below), unless the daylight pouring in through the window above truly demanded it.
See what I mean about the cover? Tactile pleasure, but also a good on the eyes. This is a $35 hardback, not some opulent pasha's pillow of a luxury, and yet a little care with the details elevates the whole. The same care has gone into the layout, which is clean and well-proportioned. In recent years, Oxford hasn't been competing much where "nice" editions are concerned. Their NRSVs and prayer books have gotten matte synthetic covers. Here, the utilitarian hardback has been tastefully upgraded in a way that does honor to the book's contents.
Above: It's safe next to the bottled water, too.
IS IT SMALLER THAN A PITT MINION? NO.
Thanks to the thicker paper and the wide margins, the Notetaker's Bible isn't going to win any awards for being tiny and lightweight. While it might look normal next to The Iliad, with a Cambridge Pitt Minion on top, Orson Welles comes to mind. But let's be honest. The application for these editions is quite different. Like other journaling formats, the Notetaker's Bible is more of a compact wide margin. Sure, you can fit a Pitt Minion into tight spaces, but you can't use it for "jotting insights, questions, and reminders," can you? Not unless their super-tiny insights.
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Another unfair comparison, but one that's closer to home: the New Paragraph KJV in its Penguin Classics incarnation. As much as I like the Notetaker's Bible, the more time I spend with it, the more my imagination runs wild, and always in the same direction: toward the shears. I can't help it. I want to lop those margins right off. You see, this is a beautiful single column setting, and while nothing goes with a wide margin like a single column text setting, I feel like the Oxford single column NRSV without the wide margins should have come first. Either the text could have been enlarged, or the book cut down.
Hence the New Paragraph Bible comparison:
Size-wise, they're not far from one another. The Notetaker's Bible is wider, but also thinner. You would expect to open them and find comparably sized text. But thanks to those ruled margins, you don't. Here's what happens instead:
In spite of its smaller page dimension, the New Paragraph Bible gives a lot more space to the text, and as a result it's more readable. Type size on the Notetaker's Bible is roughly 8/9 pt -- i.e., 8 pt. type with 9 pt. leading -- while the New Paragraph Bible I'd estimate at 9/11 pt., which makes a difference. The extra line spacing aids readability as much as the larger type. Again, you can't really take notes in the New Paragraph Bible the way you can in the Notetaker's Bible. Given the choice, I'd prefer the extra type size and leading.
Not that I'm complaining about this edition. It's nice. But a straight out single-column NRSV text edition would be even better, and in my mind seems to be logically prior. To tie this tangent in a neat bow, I guess what I'm saying is, I hope Oxford will use this setting for other, less specialized applications. (The alternative would be for Harper to print their Standard NRSV on comparable paper with a binding comparable to the Deluxe Cloth.)
DID I MENTION WHAT A NICE HARDBACK IT IS?
The hardback opens flat, even at the extreme ends of the page spectrum, as you can see in the photo above. The text column creeps into the gutter ever so slightly, but it's more noticeable in the pictures than during actual use. For the most part, the print impression in my copy is consistent -- and consistently good -- though my page 577 is especially dark, making me wonder how much nicer it would have been if every page were the same. (Psalm 58 and part of Psalm 59 are on that page, if you're curious.) I haven't noticed any gray print, though, so this seems like a better/best spectrum, not a bad/good one.
As I mentioned, the margins are ruled. The spacing between the lines is 9 pt., just like the line spacing, which means you'd have to write in miniscule letters. Frankly, I'd dispense with the rules, the way wide margin editions have done forever. If it ain't broke ...
Like all single column settings, this one shines in the poetry sections. In this regard, the Notetaker's Bible is superior to the Standard NRSV, which sets poetry in double columns to save space. In design, I believe you should always choose the needs of the page over the needs of the book. Saving space is a good idea, but not when it crimps the lines of poetry. Behold:
MY RECOMMENDATION, IN CASE IT ISN'T OBVIOUS
So yes, I like the Notetaker's Bible. A lot. For NRSV readers, who are typically starved for options, this represents a great one. Look at it this way. The type is larger than the ESV Personal Size Reference, plus you get spacious margins for jotting notes. And in spite of the cost, this edition looks great. You can take it wherever you want -- to church, to the classroom, to the coffee shop -- and it won't look out of place anywhere.
Thanks for the informative review. I've been a fan of wide-margin Bibles for a while now, and I'm always grateful to see one that takes the width of the "wide-margin" seriously. This edition reminds me of the ESV Journaling Bible, but in a single-column format. This is definitely a very usable book! I could see it being appropriate for use in both confessional and academic settings, which is saying a lot.
Posted by: Tod Twist | October 07, 2009 at 01:42 PM
I too love this edition. I have been very pleased with the paper. It is probably the thickest paper of any of my Bibles.
Funny, though that my first thought when I handled it was "I wonder what it would look like if I had it rebound and the margin trimmed." I guess I have been reading this blog too much.
Posted by: Ryan | October 07, 2009 at 02:16 PM
Mark, this is a great review. I wasn't aware of this Bible until I read about it right here on your blog. While the lined margins are not my particular taste per se, I do know of two friends that would love them so I've now ordered two copies as gifts. Discovering the different options available at market in Bible page design/layout is every bit as important (for me) as the wonderful leather covers. It was somewhat liberating when I became aware of quality rebinders (again thanks to your blog) because now my focus is foremost on page design/layout and size. I've got little concern over the cover cosmetics because I know I can have it rebound in just about anything imaginable. I believe the day will come soon where Bible translation license holders will enter the 21st century and allow end users to select from a pull down menu a preset list of options showing different page design/layout, font, size, etc., have the print block bound through differing options, cosmetic options on page ends, etc. and have the finished product drop shipped to our front door (or the front door of the chosen binder for whatever cover we desire). Technology has already restructured the business model for the video/music industries, and its finally arrived to the doorstep of the publishing industry. I suspect arguments concerning technological limitations in maintaining the integrity of the text (which of course is absolutely critical for any translation used) is more of an excuse supporting resistance to change than it is a real barrier, but I'm not in the publishing arena so I truly don't know. Anyway, I look forward to the day the first Bible translation license holder experiments with the idea of collecting license royalties to at least test the market with format customizable Bibles using predefined options. Perhaps this would be of sufficient interest to run a separate article someday and get some direct feedback from the publishers?
Until then, the RL Allan ESV-PSR-Red is getting closer....but it looks like I'm now waiting until the end of the month for possession. Thanks again Mark for your hard work maintaining this wonderful blog. I'm sure looking forward to your review of the facsimile Tyndle NT Bible you threw out the teaser line on in a prior post.
Posted by: California Dave | October 07, 2009 at 03:40 PM
Cal Dave: There are already some publishing houses that print out, on demand, from an electronic storehouse of out-of-print titles. The ones I'm familiar with still just print out scanned pages, so no format customization is available, and they're printed on individual pages to be glued, not signatures to be sewn, but the technology certainly exists to do better.
Unfortunately this is quite expensive, even for crummy binding, and if you add in a custom binding it gets even more expensive. So what you propose is definitely feasible, but probably at a $200+ price tag, in today's dollars, and I don't see that coming down. Granted, some of the Bibles reviewed here are at that price point! But I'm afraid it's a small fraction of the total present bible market. Printing and binding Bibles involves a lot of steps and tooling that still adapt well to mass-production methods, hence the price advantage of mass-produced designs. (And the need for a site like this to hopefully influence future mass-produced designs with larger print, thicker paper, etc!)
However, as computer display technology advances, the mass market for Bibles could very easily switch to Kindle-type devices, in which a highly-customized format involves negligible added cost. At that point, the smaller market of folks who spend a lot of time reading the Bible (us!) may be the only market for paper Bibles and your suggestion becomes the only way to get a paper Bible. We shall see!
So can anyone comment on how widespread e-Bibles (Kindles, PDA's, iPhones, etc) are in their churches? For occasional church use, I'm surprised they haven't made more of an incursion into this market. But perhaps I attend too stodgy a church?
Posted by: Bill | October 07, 2009 at 07:05 PM
Bill, thanks for the input, I just don't know much about the Bible publishing business. I've personally not seen anyone of virtually any age group use electronic devices (but for the very occasional iPhone user) during Sunday service or most Bible studies. I'm fairly tech savy and am familiar with most resources available online and I have and use most of the canned software packages. The frustration I've experienced over the years with e-stuff relates to the advances in technology continually scrapping previously purchased electronic libraries/database sets. For example, roughly ten years ago I spent $400 on Nelson's top end reference library software. That worked for about six years, then advances in computer platform operating software changed and made it virtually unusable. Moreover, I recall seeing that same reference library available a year or so back at Logos for $10. The technology that was used to originally scan those reference books is now very limited compared to what can be done with the newer scanned database sets. Another example, two years ago I purchased from Zondervan their full blown Pradis 6.0 software with several add-on modules. I liked the software and used it quite often. Last week I get an email from their tech support informing me Zondervan is canning the entire operation and migrating it over to Logos. I'm not sure what this means yet. Hopefully it doesn't mean that I'm going to have to purchase the library modules I already own all over again under the Logos platform. I already own Logos but its not been my first choice because the user interface is counter-intuitive for me and I find myself struggling with the software more than I'm struggling with my study topic. Software will continually be upgraded (usually meaning older versions are no longer supported), software companies will come and go, and so the cycle will repeat itself. Probably the best long term solution on the e-front is to establish a complete on-line reference library and have monthly plan charges of various rates for users. This would allow the software administrator to completely handle system upgrades and eliminate the end-user from this very real and expensive headache.
I'm not that old, but no way will an e-device ever completely replace my love of holding a Bible with a first class leather binding. Morever, any book I've purchased sits on a shelf and is not ever subject to software updates, vendor support coming and going, etc. I will always be able to use it and own it at no additional charge. So let me float a proposal. If Mark is willing, why don't we use this blog as a collaborative forum to design a prototype Bible print block? If the cost for a prototype is truly within a couple hundred bucks, plus or minus, then perhaps readers of this blog would be willing to contribute towards a prototype R&D fund, held in trust by Mark, and we just get it done working together. Perhaps Mark knows a publisher that he can work with to get us to a point similar to where Nelson is with the NKJV single column prototype Mark posted recently. We may need to make compromises for the sake of mass market appeal (ie NIV if its the biggest translation seller and/or the only willing translation license holding publisher willing to work with us), but translation isn't as important for this effort as the format/layout is because it will work for any translation after the prototype page format/layout is market proven. Our prototype wouldn't need a binding or other cosmetic finishes, just an electronic copy of the page layout/format. This is something I've been mulling over for a couple of years, but I don't have the contacts in the Bible publishing industry to test the receptiveness to the idea. Moreover, I don't have a clue how to set something like this up electronically.
I've totally left the reservation respective to this thread. Sorry about the rabbit trail everyone. Bill's response obviously hit a chord I'm highly passionate over.
Posted by: California Dave | October 07, 2009 at 09:55 PM
The last time you reviewed a hardback (I believe it was here:http://www.bibledesignblog.com/2008/04/synopsis-of-the.html) I wound up with one on my desk about five days later from wtsbooks.com. It is a truly amazing harmony of the gospels. By the way, it has held up beautifully through a great deal of use. The above review is an outstanding review of another special hardback. I can say without hesitation, if the print were larger with no wide margins, I would most definitely give it the poor man's Geneva Bible treatment. I have been looking for an excuse to do the poor man's treatment anyway. Any chance Oxford is one of those publishers you work with . . . . where you may have the inside scoop that they actually will do this in a single column larger print text-only edition (just not using quite so nice a hard-cover so the rebind will be painless)? Thanks
Posted by: Kyle Hedrick | October 08, 2009 at 04:55 AM
Cal Dave,
Interesting you brought up Bible software. Everything I've bought in the past is obsolete in comparison to the free, frequently-updated, biblegateway.com, at least with fast connect speeds. And I use it far more than I did any of that stuff I paid good money for! Technology marches on. It's ability to place alternate translations of the text you desire in neighboring rows or columns is just a sample of what is undoubtedly coming in terms of customization in e-Bibles.
Would people pay for an extended-service biblegateway, with more customizable features such as a full set of linked references, variable font choices, etc? I don't know...I suspect the financial success of e-Bible ventures has been pretty weak...can anyone comment? But like you say, there will probably always be a market for hardcopy editions for serious reading.
About your suggestion to form a coop to produce our own specialized Bible, I doubt even WE'D be able to agree on a single text design, and hence it would go the way of most modern religious attempts at communalism. I, for example, despise verse numbers or other reference symbols cluttering the text and would gladly accept a multi-volume solution in favor of thicker, opaque paper. Both these suggestions I fear would be non-starters with most of the crowd here. And I love artistic additions such as the letter art opening each new book of the NRSV. Could we all even agree on a typeface?
Be that as it may, there do seem to be certain approaches that resonate broadly here, such as a Large Print edition of the ESV Personal Size Ref bible. I'm hoping the already-established, commercial publishers are listening to those resonances!
Posted by: Bill | October 08, 2009 at 07:20 AM
In college I had a friend who liked to use his smart phone to read the Bible in his Bible studies.
Posted by: J. R. Houck | October 08, 2009 at 11:23 AM
@ Bill: You asked about the use of eBibles that others were seeing.
I've visited one congregation and found a family there where every member uses their PDA for a Bible. Also, we have one man where I preach who uses his iPhone exclusively. Other then that, I know that many of my friends use their eBibles (iPhone or otherwise) quite frequently, but not at their home congregation. Personally, if I'm not teaching, I use my iPhone coupled with BibleXpress (excellent) or Bible (from LifeChurch) to keep up with whatever translation their teaching out of. What's more, I use the iPhone exclusively if I'm traveling—one less thing to pack and/or lose.
Anyways, not much to go by there, but that's the little I've seen.
Posted by: Brandon Trout | October 08, 2009 at 12:39 PM
Concordia Publishing House in St. Louis, MO is one such publishing house offering print-on-demand. I don't know whether or not the books thus produced are hardbound or not.
http://www.cph.org/cphstore/category.asp?find_category=97600&find_description=Concordia%20on%20Demand&Promo=WEB
They are a Lutheran publishing house, but give them a try - you might like what you see. :)
Posted by: kurt h | October 08, 2009 at 04:01 PM
Thanks Kurt! Following your link, I'm amazed at the reasonable prices, not much higher than CPH's in-print editions. Part of this might be that all of their titles are similarly bound, so many of the binding steps can involve some economies of scale. Still, they're about 1/4 of the cost I'd claimed so I appreciate the correction. (I suspect they're glued paperbacks, but have a question into them to find out for sure.) Can anyone comment on the costs of large format printers, folders, and stitching machines needed to do high quality sewn signatures? I'm curious how much business one would have to do to capitalize such an investment in 5-10 years. Is that a possibility for print-on-demand publishers? Maybe we're closer to a custom Bible for each of us (as Cal Dave envisioned) than I thought. The labor-intensive part may be the actual computer formating of the text, which I suspect most of us would want to do anyway.
Posted by: Bill | October 09, 2009 at 08:21 AM
This looks fantastic. Added to my shopping list
Posted by: Ronit | October 09, 2009 at 07:29 PM
Mark, you say "the text column creeps into the gutter ever so slightly" but the pictures make it look almost painful to read the entire inner third of the text! Have you given this binding a good breaking-in yet? Does it appear like it will improve? My experience with flexible, leather bindings is that you can tell right away if the inner text will lie flat and "cooperate" (most do!) but hardback editions take a while to tell and sometimes never really break in (without breaking completely that is!) How that hinge area is designed makes a huge difference and I'm afraid there's quite a bit of variability there. The photos of this Oxford don't give me much confidence that the pages will ever lie flat.
I'm not so much concerned about this book in particular, since I really don't care for "note-taker" margin sizes, but about hard-backs in general. How do we, other than photographs, communicate how flat the page we're reading actually lies? E.g. I'm quite interested in the new leather-over-boards Large Print Archeological SB but am afraid that it will just never lie flat. (Does anyone have one who can comment?) My regular-size leather-bound ASB has a very flexible and cooperative spine and hinge, and the pages can be held flat for easy reading, but I must admit it's about as large as a volume can get using flexible covers, unless your hands are the size of NBA players.
Keep in mind that as our eyes age, holding the page right at the sweet spot for our God-given and man-made lenses becomes more and more critical. Text that goes up and down, forward and away from our eyes, is actually going in and out of focus. Most disconcerting.
Posted by: Bill | October 10, 2009 at 12:45 PM
I heard back from Concordia about their Print-on-Demand series of out-of-print books:
Good morning, Bill.
Thanks for your e-mail.
Both the soft and hard cover POD books are adhesive bound.
The description on our website should tell you if they are
paper back or hard back.
Our print on demand books have become very popular.
Please let me know if you would like to place an order.
I am here to serve you.
Blessings in Christ,
Donna Donovan
Concordia Publishing House
Customer Service Center
(800) 325-3040 Ext 1424
Posted by: Bill | October 13, 2009 at 06:46 AM
I bought this Bible in the regular hardcover when it came out. I had to return it, because there was a huge variation in the darkness of the print from page to page. On some pages in the Psalms there were some letters that were almost completely invisible. I hope that they have gotten better quality control on the text block now that it has been out for a little while.
Posted by: Miguel | October 13, 2009 at 03:16 PM
It is good to see another hard back reviewed. It would be good to see more about the possibilities associated with leather on hardcover books. If one gets an ESV Study Bible in a soft cover it is like wrestling with a 3 year old to write in it while in your lap sitting in church. A hard cover is much easier to handle but the ESVSB hardcover is pretty ugly. It seems that having high quality leather on a solid hardcover allows one to have the best of both worlds. Keep up the good work, Mark.
Posted by: Dan | October 14, 2009 at 11:29 AM
I picked this up from Amazon and I'm happy with it. Thanks again for the review, Mark.
Posted by: Tod Twist | October 15, 2009 at 10:21 PM
Speaking of Note Takers Bibles... I just got the one Brian posted on a video about Church Publishers. I was amazed and at the same time very upset to know that there has been a Bible Publisher out there that Does Quality Bibles (Highest so far) for only 55$. Thank you Brian for your info On LOCAL CHURCH BIBLE PUBLISHERS. I'm Converted! I was a ALLEN man, but you can't deny truth, the best bound Bibles are definitely LCBP
( LOCAL CHURCH BIBLE PUBLISHERS) Thanks again!
Posted by: Jack Moody | October 16, 2009 at 05:41 PM
Quick Comment. If you do get the Note Takers Bible through LCBP, get the ironed Calfskin when you call. You have to ask for it and Brian is Right they don't change the price.
Posted by: Jack Moody | October 16, 2009 at 05:49 PM
Hmmmm, "the best bound bibles are definitely LCBP" thats quite a statement to make. I have a copy of the LBCP note takers bible (in red ironed calfskin no less) but I think statements like 'best' are difficult to quantify and can only be subjective. The ironed calfskin is smooth (too smooth if you ask me) The feel in the hand of my Cambridge ESV wide margin is much better. Likewise in paper quality, the LCGP is smooth, fairly opaque, but still with ghosting problems, no better than my Allan Brevier Clarendon in a much better chocolate goatskin cover. The type is single column, which I like, but not paragraphed (nothings ever perfect). As for durability well we'll see... The price point is well made however but even LCBP I'm sure doesnt keep the price low just for us binding enthusiasts. I'm sure their motive is to see bibles in the hands of those who have never read it yet rather than for those who have a stackof them.
All in all so far the LCBP bible I have appears to be a well produced bible ( I'm still evaluating it ), but I dont want to be seen as a LCBP man, a Cambridge man, or even an Allan man, I'll be happy just being a bible man keeping my love for great binding and quality printing in perspective to what the message of the bible is.
PS Mark, keep up the good work!
Posted by: Gary Brown | October 17, 2009 at 03:27 AM
Can anyone tell me if this is glued or sewn, please?
Posted by: Willem Bronkhorst | November 02, 2009 at 10:49 PM
Bill: Quick update to use of eBibles, etc. Our kids attend a private K-12 Christian School which has a strong focus on Bible literacy embedded in the curriculum. I'd noticed the kids were all taking their iPods (the new iTouch generation 3x) and/or iPhones to school on a regular basis this year. This struck me as odd because prior school policy was no electronic devices allowed on campus other than cell phones. Apparently the school has changed policy this year and is allowing, even encouraging, students to bring their iTouch and/or iPhone to school and use it instead of their Bibles during class, etc. There is WiFi at the school for students. They seem to be using either a web based service (mostly biblegateway) or an available $5 Bible app exclusive to the iDevices. Students are required to purchase their own textbooks and supplies, including Bibles, so there is no savings to the school by not supplying Bibles to students. Speaking with faculty, this is more about embracing technology and its convenience. Plus, the kids clearly enjoy it more than flipping through pages of a book (from what I've been told by faculty and my own kids). If other schools are doing this same thing, then we may very well have a paradigm shift building back pressure which could eventually see much heaver use of electronic devices over books in church assembly. I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. I've always appreciated the personal Bibles of my family members (ie deceased grandparents, etc.) because of their personal notes, etc. Nothing like reading personal notes in the Bible of my grandfather to refresh my cherished memories of him. My kids someday passing along their thumb drive to their children just doesn't have the same appeal.
Posted by: California Dave | November 03, 2009 at 08:08 AM
Cal Dave, thanks for the post. Who knows where we're headed?
I look around my office...33 books per shelf, 6 shelves per case, 5 cases total = 1000 books
on the other hand...
1 character = 1 byte, 1 line = 100 B, 1 page = 5 kB, 1 book = 1 MB, 1 office = 1 GB, 1 good library = 100 GB, Human Learning = 1 TB = a $100 hard drive.
I note bn.com now has a Kindle-beater called Nook for sale. With an external flash memory card slot so you're not limited to a mere gigabyte. Amazon's little Kindle has now matched their price.
100 years ago every home had a piano and at least 1 pianist. The phonograph was like a Kindle today. Within a generation, there were a lot more phonographs than pianists. Today we have iPods, whose GUI is nothing short of amazing. But perhaps the real story is not the evolution of stylii & wax cylinders to iPods but the disappearance of musicians.
Are humans as readers headed the same way as amateur musicians? Is the real future for books not e-books at all but video presentations totally apart from words on a page/screen? Like the rock video has replaced the 45? I'm not crazy about TV's Desperate Housewives but it appears that genre has replaced what had once been racks of romance novels in my neighborhood's grocery store. Are more serious works soon to follow?
What's it mean for the Church? "Faith cometh by hearing", not by reading. I suspect we'll roll with the punches. Your kids and their school sound great.
Hang on to your saddle.
Posted by: Bill | November 03, 2009 at 01:59 PM
oops, bad numbers above...www.loc.gov says the library of congress alone has 140 million items; over 30M of which are books.
So 1 good library = 100 MB, a great library is 1 TB, and the LoC (uh, very great) is 30 TB. Hence, all human learning is coming in close to 1 petabyte. And that's text only.
But hey, I don't have time to read all those books. Still, the implication that you can carry around a very nice library on an e-reader with today's technology holds true.
Posted by: Bill | November 03, 2009 at 06:29 PM
I just came across these Oxford hard cover KJVs. Slightly smaller than the above, so that could mean smaller (though still wide) margins or it could mean smaller font. But 1/3 the price as well. I haven't seen these physically, but how bad can an Oxford Bible be?
Black or maroon hardcover, and the price is right:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Compact-Margin-Bible-Version/dp/0834004194/
http://www.amazon.com/Burgundy-Compact-Margin-Bible-Version/dp/0834004208/
Posted by: Bill | November 18, 2009 at 06:44 PM
Just got mine yesterday. Quick question: is the print on yours darker on some pages than others? There is quite a stark contrast between the darkest and lightest pages in mine. I'm thinking about sending it back for an exchange, but if it's normal in these bibles, I'll probably keep it.
Posted by: jeremy | September 25, 2010 at 06:29 AM
Thanks for the info - just placed an order with amazon for this.
Posted by: Storyteller Easterkind | October 03, 2011 at 06:33 AM
Great inof... thanks for the effort in explaining all of this!
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Posted by: Kristianpeter | May 31, 2012 at 04:31 AM