Bible Design and Binding

Of the Making of Books

The revisions on my next Roland March novel are due by the end of the month, which means there's a nice stack of review copies piling up in my office. I'm excited about some of the goodies I'll be sharing with you shortly -- particularly an unbound Oxford KJV wide margin being published by R. L. Allan, printed and bound by Jongbloed. That's it on the top of the stack:

If you've ever wondered what the pieces of a fine Bible look like before they're put together, get ready for an examination of the inner workings of the Good Book. Speaking of inner workings, if you're not following my book arts journey already, now would be a good time to start. While revising, I went a little crazy and decided to print and sew a text block version of the novel. Don't worry ... I will not be putting that gorgeous calf split Bible cover on it! Here's the link for photos: Normal Author, Crazy Author.

Shades of Red: Color Comparison

My photos of the "crimson" Reader's Reference ESV led to some questions about how the color compares to the red Alhambra goatskin cover available with the Allan's Personal Size Reference ESV. So I've snapped a few pictures to illustrate the red/burgundy spectrum. First, here's a stack of the reds ready to hand as I write this:

 

The crimson Reader's Reference is at the bottom, the Alhambra PSR is near the middle, and we have a couple of vintage reds (mostly Cambridge) to round out the picture. Color is a little off here because of the artificial lighting, so I snapped a couple of natural light shots which we'll see in a sec. The point here is to illustrate that the crimson shade is somewhere between burgundy and red, maybe trending more toward the burgundy. In some light, you get red, in others a purplish red. 

Below, a smaller selection to make the difference clearer. The crimson is on bottom again, with the Alhambra just above. The Alhambra reads red, just like the editions above it -- Cambridge's NIV Pocket Reference and REB paragraphed New Testament (my Grail text setting bound in my Grail color, but sadly no longer in print).

 

Now let's shine some natural light on the situation. The crimson is highland goatskin, which means a slightly more matte finish than the Alhambra, but limper and more flexible. 

 

The Alhambra jumps out at you. The crimson is subtle. If you like the idea of a red cover but preferred a subdued shade to a bright one, the crimson fits the bill. And it's close enough to burgundy to satisfy someone actually in search of that shade. 

 

Naturally, I'll have more photos when I post my full-length piece. But if you're wondering about color, this should help you out in the meantime.
 

Vintage Goodness: Two Mid-Century Editions

No, you're not looking at the latest releases from R. L. Allan or Cambridge. These photos show a couple of near mint mid-century Bibles. The burgundy is a full yapp Revised Version published by Cambridge in 1949, while the black is Nelson's first edition RSV dating from 1952. Alexander Plump, a reader in Dusseldorf, Germany, is the fortunate owner. He snapped these pictures for our enjoyment.

 

Cambridge RV (1949)
I'm a sucker for full yapp edges, and the color looks great. Whether the photos are color accurate or not I can't say, but if the red in the snaps is anything like real life, I give it a thumbs up. 

 

 

 

 

Nelson RSV 1st Edition (1952)
On the outside, everything looks conservative ... but imagine the impact that clean, modern layout must have had when readers opened this Bible.  

 

 

 

 

Many thanks to Alex for sharing the photos!

Sneak Peek: Crimson Reader's, Cambridge Cameos, and an iPad App

My stack of Bibles to write about gets taller and taller, so I thought I'd share some snaps of things to come. No reviews here, just some eye candy to whet your appetite. I shot some test photos and figured I should share them. 

CRIMSON READER'S
First, some views of the new R. L. Allan's Reader's Reference ESV (available here and here) bound in crimson goatskin:

 

 

 

 

CAMBRIDGE CAMEO
I'm very excited about Cambridge's re-introduction of the classic Cameo setting of the KJV. Imagine something with a roughly Pitt Minion footprint, only thicker. There are three flavors of black to choose from -- imitation, split calf, and goatskin -- as well as brown calfskin. I have to say, I'm partial to the grainy split calf KJV with Apocrypha. See below:

 

 

 

 

 

The Cameo editions are available for pre-order below. Note that the pre-publication photos aren't representative. The images here represent the actual bindings.

OLIVE TREE ESV STUDY BIBLE FOR IPAD
The iPad was a birthday present from my wife. I promptly installed the Olive Tree ESV Study Bible app, and like it even better than the version for the iPhone.  I'm not sure that I'll actually write this one up, but if you're wondering, it's a worthy application. Behold:

 

If you turn it sideways, you get a very reader-friendly, BDB-approved single column setting with notes on the outside margin.

Nelson ASV Teacher's Bible (Vintage)

We can't all be so fortunate, so let's live vicariously through the experience of reader J. V. Smart. J. V. walked into an antique store and found a boxed copy of a Nelson ASV Teacher's Bible in mint condition. The price? Five dollars. Jealous yet? Of course, the antique store was running a half-off sale, so J. V. only had to pay $2.50. 

It's a paragraphed, double-column text setting. I don't know anything about the Teacher's Bible format, but perhaps someone can enlighten us?

Let's take a look at the photos and see what $2.50 will buy you ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       

First Snap of the New Year

Back in town after a long vacation, I snapped a picture at last night's Bible study. I'd brought along my Cambridge Pitt Minion ESV -- it's such a convenient format for carrying -- while my wife had her new Allan's Reader's Edition ESV. Here's the scene:

 

 

For backup, I had the ESV Study Bible on my phone. The gloves were necessitated by the weather outside, which was (to quote the song) frightful. While my wife took notes in her trusty slimline Filofax, formerly my trusty slimline Filofax until she saw it, I tried out a new Rhodia flip pad I gifted myself for Christmas. 

One thing I kept noticing was how bright and white her Bible seemed. I think the Cambridge paper is less see-through (something I pick up mainly in the poetry sections), but the Reader's Edition offers higher contrast. 

It's a good thing we had room to spread out! 

Another Glimpse of the Reader's Edition ESV

Don't think of this as merciless taunting. I'm just checking in with another preliminary note about the new R. L. Allan Reader's Edition ESV. Right now, my tentative plan is to post something more definitive early next week. I have a lot more photos to take. In the meantime, here's a snap illustrating the color range: black on bottom, brown in the middle, and tan on top, with the corresponding Allan's Pocket Journals.

 

 

If you pre-ordered one of these, I think it's safe to say you will not be disappointed. A Reader's Edition is a bit like an Allan's ESV1 translated into glory. The same only better. Better proportions, larger type size, better paper, you name it. They are big, but in the way that a wallet stuffed with hundreds is big -- i.e., not so large you aren't thrilled to be carrying it. 

 

 

And the semi-yapp edges are executed nicely, as you can see above, with an elegant curl over the page edges. Hopefully that will tide you over until next week!

Update: If you haven't joined the Bible Design Blog Fan Page on Facebook, now would be a good time to do so. I'm not saying there are exclusive photos posted only on the Fan Page ... but there are. Click on the link in the right hand column to join.

Size Comparison: The Allan's ESV Range

This morning I received copies of the new R. L. Allan Reader's Reference Edition ESV, and will be writing more about them shortly. For now, I want to address what must be a common question, which is how the latest addition to the Allan's ESV line-up compares with the other two. I stacked three black highland goatskin Bibles -- the Personal Size Reference, the Classic Reference (ESV1), and the Reader's Edition -- one on top of the other, then snapped a few photos.

 

The Reader's Edition is taller and wider than the ESV1 (middle), and of course it dwarves the PSR (top). If you've ever handled the Allan's Long Primer, you know this is a good thing. Why? Because that larger, wider footprint combined with a similar width makes the text block's proportions just right for liquid flexibility, taking full advantage of the highland goatskin's suppleness. Of the three options, this one feels the best in the hand ... by far. 

A Preview of the new R. L. Allan Journals

The original Allan's Journal was a beauty, then there was a larger second edition, and now the latest versions are available in two sizes. The larger format comes with either a black or brown buffalo grain goatskin cover, the same as the ESV3, while the smaller format is available in black, tan, and brown highland goatskin, like the ESV1. I'm expecting some copies any day now, at which point I'll post more thoughts (and more photos), but here are some advance snaps from R. L. Allan.

First the large format brown journal:

 

And here's a look inside the larger format:

 

Now the smaller format. First black:

 

Then brown:

And now the tan:

 

And here's how the smaller ones look inside:

For those of you who've been anxiously awaiting the journals, it looks like the wait is over. There was some speculation about whether the "Journal" imprint would be dropped from the cover, but based on the photos it seems the answer is no. I'll write more when they arrive, but for now ... enjoy.

Sneak Peek at the R. L. Allan's Personal Size Reference ESV

Just so you know, I have the new R. L. Allan Personal Size Reference ESVs in hand, and I'll be working on photos and a write-up over the next few days. Expect something early next week, which will give me a chance to live with them long enough to speak intelligently on the subject. (Let's hope.) In the meantime, I snapped a photo to prove they're here and pique your interest.

As you can see, these are the advance copies with the thin ribbons. The production Bibles will have ribbons twice this width. The red is tricky to photograph thanks to the way it changes in the light, but I'd say this shot is fairly representative.