Two KJVs from the Folio Society

If you're one of those people looking to commemmorate the 400th anniversary of the King James Version in a big way ... I mean, a really big way, then the Folio Society has something for you:

According to the website description: "This two-volume edition is bound in full goatskin leather, blocked with calligraphy by Stephen Raw. With gilded page edges, double ribbon markers and presented in a wooden slipcase lined with moiré silk, this is an edition to be read and handed down for generations." The list price is a mere $975.

I haven't handled one up close, but judging from the photos, this looks like a splendid edition. It follows David Norton's restored 1611 text and in the glimpse provided above appears to be typographically opulent. If your reverence for the KJV isn't enough to justify laying out a thousand dollars -- or if your budget doesn't seem to think reverence has anything to do with it, the Folio Society offers a more economical edition, too:

This one is bound in two shades of book cloth and is listed at $150. The description sounds good: "Single column formatting makes the most of the typography, and the text is carefully set into paragraphs to make it easy to read. For this exclusive Folio edition a larger than usual format and thicker paper have been used. The result is a superbly clear presentation of the Bible that remains unchallenged for its beauty and power." No interior shots are provided, so it's hard to judge how thick the thicker paper really is. Still, it's nice to hear. 

While I don't have either of these editions, I do have shelves full of Folio Society volumes. They're well made books with an old school, decorative ethos. If you're looking for a show-stopping gift to give this Christmas to the Jacobophile in your life, either of these would fit the bill. 

Comments

[Christian Cerna]

WOW! Those are some of the most beautifully bound Bibles that I have ever seen. The emerald green and the font that is used on the covers, is lovely. I imagine that these are just as beautiful on the inside.

[bill]

OK, Mark, I'll bite. What's a jacobophile?

Beautiful Bible, in the first 2 photos. Do you know if the dimensions (and possibly total page count) are closer to the original Cambridge NCP or the re-released "personal" (compact) versions?

[David Farlow]

Hi Bill, the page count and layout is exactly the same as the original NCPB, I have a copy in French Morocco, and the above picture f the open bible is at Judith 16(from the apocrypha) and it matched my copy exactly in text layout.

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/2893/judith.jpg

[J. Mark Bertrand]

Jacobus is the Latin for James, which is why the era following the Elizabethan is dubbed the Jacobean. So I used a bit of license and coined a term for those who love the King James, a Jacobophile. If enough of us start using it, maybe they'll update the OED.

[bill]

Thanks Mark, that was a couple of stretches too far for me to reach.

And David, nice identification of Judith 16. I agree the pagination appears the same as the the original NCPB (with a few extra pages tossed in a few places) but modern typesetting and printing allows publishers to "scale" a page to an arbitrary font size. I was hoping Mark would give the dimensions, but not to worry, they're given at foliosociety.com as 11" x 7¼", so this edition is certainly close, if not identical, to the NCPB original.

Although the red highlights (chapter "initials", page numbers, etc) are quite nice, I think the double-volume penalty makes this Folio edition less desirable than the original Cambridge, which I believe, in Fr Morocco, is as close to a perfect Bible as I own. I hope you like yours as much as I do mine.

[Leandro]

I do have ðe leß expensive edition, and it is a pleasure to hold & read.

[bill]

Leandro, can you say if the pagination in your Folio Society edition is the same of the original New Cambridge Paragraph Bible? For example, does the left hand page of Judith 16 begin with "is pleased therewith" and ends "through his neck"?