Bible Design and Binding

R. L. Allan's KJV Long Primer in Black and Brown Highland Goatskin

Everything I wrote about the Allan's Oxford KJV Long Primer in May 2008 is true today, though a few of those sentences should be upgraded with an exclamation point. If you want to know what I think of the Long Primer, this is all you need to know: of all the Bibles I could have given to my father as a gift (and as you can imagine, there are a few to choose from around here), I picked the Long Primer. It's a beauty. It's the beau ideal of Bible binding. It's ... It's ... awesome. 

And now it's back. In fact, it's back again. The review copies pictured here are from the original reprint, and since that time there's been an additional printing (can anyone say demand?) which features "substantially larger margins." Well, I like the original margins just fine, but you really can't have too much of a good thing, right? 

 

 

The real news, in my book, is the introduction of the brown highland goatskin cover, matched with a trio of exquisite gold ribbons. This color combination works. In fact, despite my preference for tan, I'm going to go out on a limb and say the dark brown with gold is the best combination currently available. For you traditionalists, there's black with blue ribbons.

 

Above: Oops! My secret's out. My tape measure was made in China!

 

The Long Primer is special for another reason. This edition is the first since Allan's was granted the royal license to print the KJV in Scotland. The license, signed by the Lord Advocate, is on the reverse of the title page, along with some more heart-warming news. The Long Primer is printed in the Netherlands by Jongbloed. (I have a Design & Production Bible guide produced by Jongbloed and the Danish design firm 2Krogh to write about here, as soon as I can get photos that measure up to its brilliance.) The point is, this is a well made volume inside and out, a real pleasure to use.

 

 

The Long Primer features an elegant, readable layout in the old school verse-per-paragraph configuration, with center column references. One quirk of the layout that drives KJV purists crazy is that the italicized words from the original are rendered in roman type. The center column references will occasionally include a note reading "The best MMS. omit," as at Romans 8:1, where the note precedes the KJV's "... who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." I don't want to get bogged down in manuscript debates, but I'll say that when I taught from the KJV, I always appreciated pointers like this. But I realize others find them infuriating. So decide which camp you're in and choose accordingly.

 

 

Above: The print impression in my review copies is consistent and dark. I spotted one or two broken letters. There's some ghosting, but it's not bad. The paper quality seems quite good.

 

Allan's has upped the bling factor with the Long Primer by adding an extra gilt line. When the Bible is open, the text block tends to land right on the inner line, obscuring it, but in the photo above you can see the extra detail. It's an attractive touch. The stamp inside the front cover says HIGHLAND GOATSKIN, the one inside the back cover says ALLAN BINDING. Although this is an old Oxford text setting, Allan's commissioned the printing and is credited as publisher on the title page. This is a black letter setting with additional lined notepaper in back, along with a set of color Oxford maps, a concordance, a subject index, and a dictionary of proper names. Some of the harder words get self-pronouncing treatment, but it's executed sparingly. Theophilus is broken into syllables and so is Timotheus, but Jesus isn't.

 

The highland goatskin covers are every bit as beautiful and flexible as the originals. The full yapp on my review copies isn't as full as on the original, but you still get those wonderful organic "pinches" near the spine, an effect I happen to love. 

 

Liquid flexibility is the order of the day. The Long Primer melts in your hand, soft and pliable. Folding the cover back (below) takes no effort at all. As if the cover wants to bend and fold. 

 

Above: Somebody wouldn't know a white balance if it bit him. Sorry about that.

The photo below says it all. The flex of cover and text block in perfect symmetry. It feels as good in the hand as it looks in the picture.

 

Whichever way you turn, the highland goatskin offers no resistance. If you like your Bibles limp and soft, there's no question you'll love the Long Primer. If you don't, the Long Primer might just convert you.

 

 

 

Above: a close-up of that "pinched" corner. I love it.

 

For a sense of scale, I rounded up a whole bunch of KJVs and plopped an Allan's ESV Reader's Edition on the bottom for reference. From bottom to top, here's what you're seeing: Allan's ESV Reader's Edition, Allan's KJV Long Primer, Cambridge KJV Concord Reference in black calf (well used), Allan's KJV Brevier Blackface, Cambridge KJV Cameo, Allan's KJV Ruby, and Allan's/Cambridge KJV Crystal.

 

 

I suppose the Long Primer is to the KJV what the Reader's Edition is to the ESV -- a large format edition with generous type that's suitable both for reading and study. They're not the smallest Bibles, but their ratio of height and width to thickness guarantees that they show off the flexibility of their highland goatskin covers to maximum advantage.

You can view the entire R. L. Allan's Long Primer range by visiting Bibles-Direct.co.uk, where you'll find options in goatskin and French Morocco. EvangelicalBible.com has an excellent Long Primer resource page along with ordering options that will run you anywhere from $180 to $99, depending on your edition of choice.

Cambridge KJV Concord Wide Margin in Black Calfskin

Somebody has a birthday coming up -- and no, it's not me. Next year will mark the four hundredth birthday of the King James Version. In 2009, countless dusty copies of Calvin's Institutes came off the shelf in honor of the Reformer's birthday, and I expect something similar will happen in 2011 for the most influential English translation of Scripture. As a result, I'm going to make a special effort to bring interesting KJV options to your attention. Some of you already love this majestic translation while others might be discovering it for the first time. Either way, I hope the coverage over the next few months will be illuminating.

To begin, we have an old favorite of mine, the Concord Wide Margin from Cambridge. Our friends at EvangelicalBible.com provided a copy for this review, and they have a limited number in stock. The price is $140. The Concord Wide Margin is the edition that inspired my classic feature on wide margin editions: "Marginal Interest: Why You Need A Wide Margin Bible." I'd be remiss if I didn't point you there first. To make a long story short, I love wide margin Bibles. I think they fill a unique role, which I've dubbed "the thinking man's Study Bible." With every other SB, somebody else does the homework and writes the marginal notes. With a wide margin, you do. Hard work? Sure. But well worth the effort.

 

Unlike my old standby, which came in the King's College slipcase, this copy has one of the new boxes. Can I just say how much I appreciate it when publishers enumerate a Bible's features on the outside of the box? The usual questions a reader might ask -- What's the cover made of? Is the book block sewn? etc. -- are answered up front. The most important note here, however, is this one: Preface. 'The Translators to the Reader' of 1611. Why? Because most editions of the KJV published today omit this valuable preface, which explains the thoughts of the translators on their work, and on translation in general. I'm sure many publishers are contemplating new editions of the KJV for 2011, and I hope they all take note. "The Translators to the Reader" serves as an antidote to so much of the misunderstanding that has cropped up about the KJV in the past four hundred years. It's worth reading.

At a time when Cambridge seems more committed than ever to offering goatskin editions, this one is a bit of a throwback. It's bound in black calfskin, just like my own copy from a decade ago. I've written before about the variability of Cambridge's calfskin, which is not the soft matte-finish product familiar from Nelson Signature and other high end editions, but tends to have a harder, old school feel. Sometimes it's structured but flexible, sometimes it's quite limp, and sometimes it's stiff as all get-out. I have a burgundy calfskin Cameo (pictured near the end of this piece) that's bound in weapons grade calf. With a whetstone and a little elbow grease, I think it really would be sharper than a two-edged sword! 

 

My review copy falls into the structured but flexible category. In fact, it reminds me a bit of my ESV Pitt Minion, which started out a little stiff and with use has become one of my favorite covers. Use is the key. The more you read, the more you handle, the less you coddle, the better the cover becomes. It breaks in, so to speak. 

As you can see, the black calfskin is attractively grained, the lettering stamped in gold. Colorful Bibles are my thing. I like browns and tans and reds. I even like blues and grays and greens. (Not burgundy so much.) But there's no question black is an unobjectionable, understated classic. For most people, it is the color of Bibles. Anything else smacks of irreverence. The Concord Wide Margin has that classic elegance. It's a well appointed edition, but subtle about it. Cambridge offers this edition in edge-lined goatskin and French Morocco, too. (The goatskin edition at EvangelicalBible.com runs $175.99, and French Morocco brings your cost down to $118.)

 

 

 

A couple of grace notes: the pages feature art-gilt edges, that old fashioned red-copper-gold matrix that shifts with the angle and the light. Gilding these days seems to be a lost art, and use does not improve edges the way it often does leather, so get used to them not staying pretty. Art gilt edges seem to age better than your typical gold foil, though. That's been my experience at least. 

The Concord Wide Margin comes with two black ribbons, nice and long ones. Length is essential given the side of the page. If you can't draw a ribbon from near the spine all the way to the far corner of the book, opening to the marked spot, then your ribbons are simply too short. 

Of course, the real story where wide margins are concerned starts when the cover opens:

 

The Concord's text impression is cheated to the inside and top, which means the bottom and outside margins are the most convenient for note taking. In an ideal world, a two column setting would have wide margins on both sides -- even some extra width on the inside to allow for the gutter. But this isn't an ideal world (and if it were, wide margins would come with single column text settings, so you'd only need one big margin on the outside). I can tell you from experience that the Cambridge arrangement works. It's not perfect. You'll occasionally find yourself straining for space on the inside margin. But this is a workable compromise.

The Concord text setting is attractive and readable. The font is 8/9 pt Times Semi-Bold. I'm not a fan of the old verse-by-verse line divisions, preferring a paragraphed text for readability, but this is at least a fine example of the form. The print impression in my review copy is consistent and dark. The paper is reasonably opaque, consistent with Cambridge standards, and to my eye has a hint of creme tone that may not come through in the photos. The text block was "printed in the Netherlands and bound in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge."

When it comes to Cambridge editions, there are some with red letter text and others without. This one is black letter, as you can see from the spread below featuring the gospel of Mark (no relation). I've written before about red letter editions, which are a much more recent innovation than most people realize. I'm not a fan, mainly because I'm looking for less pious, well-meaning intrusion into the text, not more. But I understand that for many people the red letters are a nonnegotiable. If you're one of them, this edition isn't for you.

 

If there's one pious, well-meaning intrusion I can get behind -- perhaps because it's not really an intrusion at all -- it's the addition of lined notepaper in the back of a Bible. The Concord has a generous allowance just in front of the maps. Some people use them for sermon notes, outlines, things like that, but I tend to devote mine to a mix of favorite quotations and creeds/confessions, passages I want to keep handy for reference. Compared to the notepaper in the back of recent Allan's editions, the Cambridge has a fainter rule and the lines are about twice as tall, a welcome fact for those of you with big handwriting.

 

As I mentioned, the calfskin cover is flexible but not soft. With use, I think it would develop an attractive limpness. In the "yoga" photo below, you can see that the cover is rigid enough to support the weight of the text block, resulting in an oval shape. The Cambridge goatskin covers tend to collapse in the middle in this context, the spine kissing the cover to create a kind of figure eight shape. If you find such a limp cover unsupportive with a large format Bible,  the more rigid calfskin should be more to your liking. 

 

Having said that, the Concord isn't exactly stiff, as you can see from the photo below. Look, Mom! One hand!

Let's end with a couple of size comparisons. If you're familiar with Cambridge's line of wide margins, this one fits right in. It's big, there's no denying that. All those margins add up to a wider footprint. But the Concord is not a thick Bible. Compared to your average Study Bible they are quite sleek and manageable. 

In the first photo, the Concord is on bottom and the burgundy calfskin Cameo KJV I mentioned earlier is on top. The Cameo is super stiff in the cover department, but it photographs nicely. As you can see, the Cameo format is much handier, assuming you don't want the wide margins. They make a good one-two combination, and the Cameo is a bit more comfortable to read than its sleeker cousin the Pitt Minion.

 

Next, another highly sought-after KJV, the Allan's Longprimer, a revival of the classic Oxford setting. These are newly available in black and brown goatskin, and I'll be writing a piece about them shortly. The Longprimer's proportions are much closer to those of the wide margin -- though that's in part thanks to the former's full yapp cover -- but the Longprimer has larger text instead of wider margins.

 

Would the Concord make an ideal KJV reader for 2011? That depends on what you have in mind. If you're just going to be reading the text, I would probably recommend waiting for the upcoming New Paragraph KJV, a smaller edition of the original I reviewed some time ago. If your goal is to study from the KJV, though, I can't think of a better way to do it. 

 

Beater Bibles 101: Compact ESV in British Tan Bonded Leather

How's this for a change of pace? Instead of a pristine, high-end edition, I'd like to introduce you to a cheap bonded leather Bible with a glued binding, a fairly typical representative of the type with one or two exceptions. This is the original Compact ESV in British Tan bonded leather, superseded a few years ago by the newer, larger Deluxe Compact with sewn binding. 

 

A thing of beauty? Not exactly. And yet, there is something to it, I have to say. While the materials and construction are unimpressive, this little Bible comes very close to my aesthetic ideal. The color of the cover is right -- a mid-brown tan -- and the warm gold ribbon is a perfect complement. The size is excellent, too: just 6" x 4" x 0.75", perfect for slipping into a jacket pocket. Back when I worshipped in a church with old fashioned pews, size really wasn't an issue, but now the chairs are stackable and there are move things to juggle in hand, so I really appreciate a pocket Bible.

 

One of the terms you'll hear collectors use often is "beater," the idea being that for everyday use instead of employing something valuable, you have a cheaper alternative at hand, one you don't mind messing up. If you're into watches, you might wear a Patek on special occasions and a Seiko every day. You get the idea. Personally, I don't subscribe to the theory. The point of quality in my mind isn't to remain intact ... it's to hold up better to use. So every Bible is a beater Bible to me, or it's not worth having. 

Still, I don't treat every edition the same. I might use a nice Bible (and that use might equate to abuse in somebody else's book), but I still take care of it and don't expose it to ridiculous maltreatment. No, that sort of thing is reserved for a Bible like the Compact ESV. How do you know a Bible is a beater? When you don't bother to clean off the stains from where you spilled coffee all over it:

 

Yes, this is probably the nicest smelling Bible I have. Say what you want about the aroma of leather, it's nothing compared to coffee beans. The back quarter of pages was inundated by the spill, giving them a crispy, brown complexion. But that doesn't stop me from using it from time to time. This is one of those editions I misplace, forget about, and then rediscover and start using again. Not long ago I found it tucked into the bottom of the pouch behind the driver's seat of my wife's station wagon. Last Sunday I read the call to worship from it. 

 

For someone accustomed to quality, there's plenty not to like. The cover (above) has a mind of its own, and the edges have gotten a bit raggedy. The faux grain is kinda nice, though, and the fact that no pages have fallen out despite a lack of care is a testament to the power of glue. Maybe the fact that I've used this as more of a ready reference than a daily reader contributes to the longevity.

 

Ah, but will it open flat? Not of its own free will. Instead you get this funky half-open posture, which it'll hold for a couple of seconds before closing itself:

 

It's stands up straight, though:

 

And guess what? There is a way to make it open flat, it's just not pretty. The first step is to give the little Bible a newspaper roll, like so:

 

And the result is something like this:

 

     
 
For my purposes, though, the compact size and the fact that the bonded leather cover is flexible enough make this is a perfectly usable edition. The complaint about the Compact ESV was that the type was too small, and for sustained use that's probably right. However, I think there's something to be said for a Bible small enough for convenient use in worship, ready when needed and easily tucked away at other times. Which must be why I'm holding onto this thing. Sure, I wish it had the updated ESV text, and I wish the cover was calfskin and there were a couple more ribbons. For what it is, though, and for what it cost, I'm not complaining.

 

 

The ESV Minister's Bible - Deluxe Edition (Black Calfskin)

If you've been reading Bible Design Blog long, you know I'm not a big fan of novelty Bibles. I'm old fashioned enough to think that whether you're a fireman, a policeman, a teen, or whatever, the same edition will serve just fine. Quality and function are essential, but the kind of kitschy "features" that seem to emerge from marketing brainstorming sessions leave me cold. 

There's a different, though, between novelty editions and specialty editions. In the past, I've championed more than a few specialized Bibles -- for example, wide margin editions in general and specifics like the Daily Reading Bible and The Books of the Bible. The difference between novelty and specialty is that while the former essentially offers a gimmick that sparks an impulse buy, the latter offers unique functionality that's actually of service to a slice of the Bible-reading public.

Take the concept behind Hendrickson's ESV Minister's Bible:

 

The idea is to package a specially-developed Ministry Resources Guide at the back of the Bible, so that ministers have a quick reference for common tasks they're called upon to perform -- weddings and funerals, baptism, counseling, you name it. In some denominations there are official service books to fulfill this role, but for the most part, evangelical ministers are left to their own devices, often relying on resources that won't be ready at hand when needed. So why not take the essentials and bind them side-by-side with the Bible, a resources ministers typically do have handy?

 

I love the idea, and its execution here illustrates both the benefits of the idea and why it's not more commonly done. Purists will perhaps be aghast at the thought of binding something else under the same cover as the Bible ... ignoring the fact that we've incorporated all kinds of helps into the text over time, everything from prefaces, references, and concordances to extra-biblical study notes. Once you get past the initial "Say What?" the concept makes perfect sense. The Bible is a book meant to be read, and also to be used. In the same way that I want to see editions that strip out the excess to provide an optimal reading experience, I'm all in favor of specialized editions that add the necessary helps to perform the tasks of ministry.

Cambridge NIV Pocket Cross Reference (Limited Availability)

Not long ago, I passed along a suggestion to Paul at EvangelicalBible.com. The one Cambridge edition I would love to see available in the US, which unaccountably isn't, is the Pocket Cross Reference NIV, which I wrote about back in 2007. I have two of them, one in red Cabra Bonded Leather and another in Russet Calfskin. The former is no longer available, but I'm happy to announce that the latter can now be ordered by clicking here: Pocket Cross Reference NIV at EvangelicalBible.com.

They'll be available mid-February and there's only a limited stock.

A couple of my earlier photos comparing the Russet Calfskin edition to a Pitt Minion are up over there, but in honor of the occasion I figured I'd snap a few more for your enjoyment.

 

The Russet Calfskin cover is basically a tan-colored, grained calf. Cambridge doesn't seem to be doing a lot of calfskin bindings these days, but if you remember back a few years, you'll know what I'm talking about. Similar in feel to vintage Cameo covers -- flexible but not limp, and they improve with a little use. I love the color, and think the gold ribbon complements it perfectly. Page edges are gold gilt.

 

Remember that "Oh, Wow" feeling you got from the now-discontinued Bold Type Reference NIV that Allan's discounted awhile back? The layout was so clean and readable. People still e-mail me wanting to know where to find those things ... sadly, the answer is, "You can't." Well, you'll get the same feeling opening the Pocket Cross Reference because it's the same layout. Only smaller. As you can see below, the page numbers match and everything. So if you're one of the lucky ones who has a Bold Type Reference NIV, here's a chance to pick up a little companion.

 

If I were the type of guy to pick favorites -- and of course I'm not, but if I were -- I'd say this is the best two-column setting of the NIV. It's just so easy on the eyes. 

 

The photo above gives you an idea what to expect inside the cover. It's stamped Calfskin Leather, with a brown marbled leather-like lining sheet. And as the picture below suggests, the cover is plenty flexible. Just the one ribbon, but it's a lovely color.

 

Now this is where things get very interesting. The cover size of this edition is about 6.5 x 4.5 edge to edge, and just over an inch thick. "Pocket" might be a slight exaggeration, but not by much. Despite the size, the 6/7 pt. Olympian type is very readable, which makes this an ideal compact NIV. The question is, how does it compare to other editions we're familiar with? Let's take a look.

 

Above, I've placed a stack of comparable items. On bottom is a TruTone Personal Size Reference ESV, which is taller and wider than the Pocket Cross Reference (just like the Pitt Minion). Next up is the Pocket Cross Reference, and on top of that is the Deluxe Compact ESV that Leonard's rebound for me. As you can see, the Deluxe Compact and the Pocket Cross Reference are very similar in size -- the same height, but the Deluxe Compact is just a little less wide. On top of the stack is the Allan's Pocket Journal.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that if small size and usability are key for you, the Pocket Cross Reference is impossible to beat. Great layout. Great footprint. Nicely made. When I snapped the photo above, I realized what a nice match the Russet Calfskin would be with the tan goatskin Pocket Journal. So here they are in a stack:

 

And here they are side-by-side:

 

I love this combination, which I'd never thought of before snapping these shots. If you treat yourself to a Pocket Cross Reference, pairing it with an Allan's Pocket Journal would make some sense.

 

The operative words on the EvangelicalBible.com page seem to be "limited stock." I don't know if that means the first order is small, or if there will only ever be one small order. The point is, if you find this little Bible appealing, you might want to act quickly. They're listed for $75.

R. L. Allan Reader's Reference Edition ESV

Critics divide an artist's lifetime of work into eras or periods. If I were to do the same thing for the R. L. Allan Reader's Edition ESV, I'd have to say this comes from a later, mature period, in which a variety of earlier experiments have come together to create a superlative and very refined edition. The ESV1 in its various iterations, the ESV3, the recent PSR ... all that labor has now culminated in a work of art.

These days, things often fail to live up to the hype. I'll be honest, the idea of a bigger Allan's ESV didn't get me too excited. I like small. So my expectations weren't as high as some. Then I opened the box and saw the Reader's Edition for the first time. My expectations reset.

 

It's not a question of innovation. We've seen most of the details before. The genius here is the execution. Everything is better than before. Allan's took the now-defunct Heirloom setting of the ESV -- essentially an enlarged Classic Reference -- and commissioned a special printing by Collins, adding extra space at the margins and selecting a higher quality paper than what we've seen on previous Collins-printed text blocks. The margins change the footprint. This isn't just a bigger ESV1. It's taller and also wider, which means it takes full advantage of the liquid flexibility of the highland goatskin covers. For the first time, Allan's has delivered an ESV that rivals the KJV Long Primer for look and feel.

 

The color options are consistent with the ESV1 range: tan with copper/tan ribbons; brown with copper/tan, green, and purple ribbons; and black with dark blue ribbons. As with all naturally grained covers, you'll see variation from skin to skin. Of the three pictured here, the black has the most pronounced, most rustic grain, the brown is the most smooth and refined, and the tan lies somewhere in between.

They're beautiful, of course. My wife is accustomed to a superfluity of Bibles around the house, and as a result they all look the same to her. Not these. She seized one (the dark brown) and started explaining to me everything she liked about it. Needless to say, that one's hers.

 

While there's variation in the grain, color is very consistent. The new Allan's Pocket Journals match their big brothers perfectly. The paper in the journals is the same as what's bound in the back of each Reader's Edition. Seeing them together reinforces the maturity I mentioned earlier. This is a range of editions now, not just a handful of unrelated options. 
 

R. L. Allan's Journal (Third Generation)

I've written in the past about the original Allan's Journal, about matching Bibles with notebooks, and even about my search for the perfect tan notebook. Now, with the debut of the third generation of Allan's Journals, it's time for another installment in the occasional series. This time, the journals are available in two sizes and a variety of colors, in both buffalo grain goatskin and highland goatskin. They're designed to be ideal companions to R. L. Allan's spectacular line of quality-bound Bibles. 

It might be too late to snag one with stocking-stuffing in mind, but if you'd like to try, I'll start off with the ordering and pricing information. You can order the Allan's Journal directly from R. L. Allan in Scotland, paying £20 for the Pocket Journal and £25 for its big brother, or you can get them through EvangelicalBible.com in California, where you'll pay $35 and $42,respectively. The Pocket Journal measures 6 1/8" x 4 1/2" x 3/8", with 256 pages of lined, lightweight writing paper, and comes in your choice of black, tan or brown highland goatskin. The full-size Journal boasts the same number of pages, measuring 7 3/4" x 5 1/16" x 3/8", in your choice of antique brown or black buffalo grain goatskin. Every journal has a sewn binding, a ribbon bound in, and art-gilt page edges.

 

Above: The Pocket Journal line-up: black, tan, and brown.

Below: The full-size Journal in antique brown buffalo grain goatskin.

 

If you paid attention to the measurements, you'll notice that while the Journal and the Pocket Journal have very different scales, they're both the same thickness. Or should I say thinness? Because they feel very thin in the hand. The lightweight paper delivers a high page count in a slender package, which is wonderful for portability, though there are some trade-offs, as we'll see. 

Oxford NRSV Notetaker's Bible (Deluxe Cloth)

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.

 

R. L. Allan Personal Size Reference ESV in Black, Brown & Red Goatskin

Nineteen months ago, I posted a very thorough review of the then-new Personal Size Reference ESV from Crossway. I liked it a lot, but still had a couple of reservations. For one thing, the 7.4 point type was pretty small, with a column width that stretched a bit too far. On top of that, the only binding options were a sewn genuine leather cover and a glued TruTone. (Later, that changed, as Crossway offered sewn bindings with the TruTone covers.) The review ended with a "wait and see" reflection:

I love the Personal Reference ESV, but I understand if not everyone does. For me it delivers most of the goods -- a readable, single-column setting with a clever approach to references and a relatively compact form factor. I’ve never enjoyed reading the poetry of the ESV more, and it’s never looked so good on the page before. All in all, I’m satisfied. Having said that, what I’m waiting on is a quality binding for the Personal Reference. It’s hard to commit fully until then.

At long last, the day has come. R. L. Allan is offering the Crossway-printed, sewn PSR text blocks bound in your choice of three leathers: black highland goatskin, brown highland goatskin, and a red goatskin Allan's has dubbed "Alhambra." Each comes with three ribbons, art-gilt (red under gold) page edges, and a semi-yapp cover. 

Highland goatskin is a naturally grained skin that offers unparalleled flexibility. Some covers, like the black one reviewed here, feature a pronounced grain, while others, like the brown shown here, are smoother. This variation comes with the territory. Alhambra goatskin appears to have a printed grain (like the buffalo grained ESV3), so it has a firmer feel in the hand, but this is coupled with an impressive limpness, as we'll see.

 

The Personal Size Reference ESV is a single-column text setting with cross references on the inside margin. If you can hack the small type, the formatting aids reading quite a bit. While a two-column paragraphed text is just fine, the width of the columns tends to force awkward line breaks wherever you encounter poetry. One of the advantages of a single-column setting is that the poetry has room to breath. 

 

Of course, there are trade-offs. The reason two-column settings are ubiquitous is that they fit more words into the same space. The PSR features type roughly comparable in size to Cambridge's Pitt Minion, only it's quite a bit thicker. We'll do a proper comparison in a moment, but for now it's helpful to think of the PSR on a spectrum with the smaller Pitt Minion at one end and the larger Allan's ESV1 (which is essentially a rebound Classic Reference ESV) at the other. The PSR sits right in the middle. Not as ultra-portable as the Pitt Minion, but handier than the ESV1. To me the size (7.25" x 5" x 1.25") seems perfect for carry. It fills the hand in a way the Pitt Minion doesn't, but without the extra size of the ESV1. 

 

For some time now, I've used the PSR as my daily reader. Is the type small? Sure. But I don't notice much anymore. What I do notice is the reading "drag" when I switch back to a two-column setting. The reading plan I follow is the same as the one found in the Daily Reading Bible. I removed the perforated schedule from that edition, and now it keep it with whatever Bible I'm reading through. Since there are readings from the Old Testament, the Psalms, and the New Testament, you need three markers to keep up with where you're at. Like the ESV1, the R. L. Allan PSR comes with three, which makes things easy.

 

Style-wise, the Allan's PSR takes its cues from the most recent editions of the ESV1. On the outside the chocolate brown and black editions look like ESV1s that were shrunk in the wash. The ones pictured here are advance copies, so I should note two dissimilarities. First, the ribbons here are the usual thin variety you see on most Bibles. The actual ribbons these PSRs will ship width are twice the width. [UPDATE: This turned out not to be the case. The review copies pictured here have 5mm wide ribbons, while the production copies have 7mm ribbons. Not double the width, but an increase of about 40%.] Secondly, the semi-yapp covers here do not wrap around the text block at all, instead projecting straight out. Typically my Allan's Bibles arrive wrapped in paper which has the effect of reinforcing that curve. These didn't. I don't know what the production editions will look like, but suffice it to say, if your edges project like this at first, they'll begin to curve with use. My ESV Pitt Minion is doing the same, though its cover doesn't project as much.

R. L. Allan's NIVC1 in Dark Brown Highland Goatskin

This is going to take some explaining. Let's start with the hat. It's a foldaway trilby from Christys' of London, and as the name suggests, it's claim to fame is that you can fold the thing up and stick it in the red tube. 

Above: A foldaway trilby from Christys' of London, a storage tube, and some gloves.

Below: The same hat, stuffed inside the tube for safe keeping.

Okay, so what does this have to do with the Allan's NIVC1 in dark brown goatskin? Is it starting to dawn on you? "Oh, no he isn't ... "

Yes. I am. Before: