Cambridge Wide Margin Reference Bible (NASB)

Like trying to hold water in my hands ... that's what my first experience with the Cambridge Wide Margin Reference Bible was like. I expected the goatskin cover to be flexible, but this was ridiculous. Ridiculously good, that is. Wherever it wasn't supported by my hand, this Bible gracefully plunged toward the floor, almost like it was wet. I half expected it to be dripping, but of course it wasn't. That's the illusion a fine, flexible binding can give. Though the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the translation featured in this edition, is often described as "wooden," this wide-margin felt anything but. It was the best Cambridge binding I've ever witnessed, and one of the best Bibles I've ever handled, period. The epitome of limpness.For years, Cambridge has been a name to conjure with in the world of Bible publishing. They've been publishing Bibles since 1591, so they've had time to work out the kinks. And at a time when publishers left and right began to let the standards slip, it seemed that Cambridge was holding the line. Sure, there were disappointments -- stiff calfskin, muddled imprints, and so on -- but these were exceptions with Cambridge and not the rule as with most everyone else. When I first began the sisyphusian hunt for the ideal Bible, Cambridge was the first place I turned, and they have rarely disappointed. My favorite New Testament and my favorite wide margin are both Cambridge Bibles. Even so, I wasn't expecting to be as impressed with the wide margin NASB as I was.