Bible Design and Binding

The Allan's Journal

Last Friday, we talked about Bibles and notebooks -- and I promised to say more about the ultimate notebook, the Allan's Journal. Let's take a look ...

This is the Pocket Journal. It measures 5.75 by 4 inches, has 192 pages, and is bound in Morocco goatskin with a single ribbon marker and art-gilt page edges. A larger Standard Journal, which measures 7.75 x 5.0625 is also available.

Bibles and Notebooks

Wide-margin Bibles are one way to keep your notes, but there's an argument to be made for using a separate journal. A teaching outline can get pretty cramped in the confines of an inch-wide margin. Using a notebook gives you room to spread out. They're easier to write in, too, when your only solid surface is your lap, as is so often the case when you're sitting in church, taking notes on a sermon. Sometimes you don't want to carry all your notes around with you, either. A separate journal gives you the option of leaving them at home.

With that in mind, let's take a look at a few combinations:

Marginal Interest? Why You Need A Wide-Margin Bible

If you've been around this site for any length of time -- five seconds ought to do it -- you know that I'm an opinionated, hair-splitting sort of fellow. For everything I like about a particular edition of the Bible, there are a dozen things I want to change, and I'll be the first to admit that some of my demands are a little unrealistic. Despite what some people think, the folks who publish Bibles do it out of a sense of vocation. They're not out to shaft the end user. The generally poor quality of contemporary Bible design and binding has as much to do with economy and the changing face of publishing as anything else.

But you know what? I'm an idealist. My strategy is simple: if we're all graciously demanding, then the quality and options we see in the market will improve.

REALLY BASIC
As far as I'm concerned, some features ought to be basic in Bible publishing. Text should be paragraphed, set in readable modern type and formatted in a single column. Bindings should be genuine leather, spines sewn, and every Bible should come with at least two ribbons -- and they should be wide, too, not the dinky little strings that never lay flat between the pages. Every publisher of every translation should consider it essential to produce at least one edition that meets this criteria. Sadly, most don't publish any that do.