Bible Design

Way back on May 29th I said I had pre-ordered the ESV Study Bible in Goatskin Calfskin.
Edit: I had originally said it was Goatskin. J. Mark Bertrand corrected me on this and I note that it is Calfskin. So I've made the appropriate modifications!
Today I want to review it.
Unboxing the ESVSB in Calfskin
This afternoon the badly beat up cardboard mailer arrived. So I promptly opened her up, but suddenly remembered I should shoot some photo's.
That's all well and good however the only camera available was the pathetic doohickey on my Treo. After a wayward glance to my broken digital camera (thrice dropped by my daughters) I grabbed my cellphone and started shooting.
Thus I beg that you will pardon the poor image quality.

Quite awhile back on Bible Design and Binding: Cambridge Wide Margin Reference Bible (NASB) I read the following

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...

He was right.

I went ahead and ordered This Bible (Amazon link) and I'm so glad I did. It arrived today and with trembling hands I opened the box on the most expensive Bible I've ever owned. It smelled wonderful! The pages are beautifully art gilt. Both black ribbons are the right length and have the right feel that they should have for a Bible of this size. Nothing about this bible feels like it shouldn't.

Note:The original article actually disappeared and I've managed to partially reconstruct it below. I'm still looking in to the cause.

As you may recall, quite some time ago I was moaning about my bible falling apart. I do have a plan to pull out all the stops and rebind it myself. Sure I could have it rebound but I want to learn about the process, about quality and just plain about doing it right. So I've started wondering what doing it right means.
I've also been dreaming about making my own Scholars Bible.
Can you imagine the joy of reading a well designed bible in multicolumn format:

Of course it would be a behemoth wouldn't it. To make matters worse I've started reading the Bible Design and Binding Bible Blog and now I have a whole host of additional requirements to add, several started with A Bible Reader's Manifesto and then grew from some of my own desires.

1. Quality construction please.  I'm tired of bibles that fall apart after only a year.  Yes that is partly my fault.  But then I think I'm done buying bibles off the $10 rack.
2. Sewn bindings which lay flat when the Bible is Open, and not just at Psalm 127, how about laying flat at Genesis 1 and Revelation 22 as well?
   

I've talked about it plenty of times and even hosted a poll about it, and I'm still contemplating it but Nate went ahead and did it. Over on nate's incoherent babble: THE BIBLE I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED Nate says,

dissatisfied with all of the options thus far, I decided to do something FAR more obsessive-compulsive. I decided to edit together and print my own Study Bible.

It's not quit the format I've thought about building but it's pretty close and as a proof of concept it looks like Nate did it for me.
I'm just left with a few questions like:

1. Will the paper fade over time?
2. Will the ink fade over time?
3. Why isn't there enough room for handwritten notes? (size seems to be the answer)

Well I did it. I took the luxury Bible plunge - well kind of. I just preordered the top of the line black goatskin ESV Study Bible.

Don't read luxury as "needless bible bling" you find a lot of junk in "Christian Bookstores" but just because you slap a cross on something kitschy doesn't make it a Christian product. In this instance Luxury is a synonym for quality.

As I mentioned yesterday I've been reading the Bible Design Blog and I hit an article on the an article on the new ESV Study Bible. Reading Mark's blog is going to cost me money in the long run. I'm not panicking just yet. I got a good deal due to the Moody Bible Institute Pastor's conference and cut the cover price in more than 1/2. I decided I can live with that.

I've been reading about the ESVSB for over a month and I got to see some mock-up's at the MBI Pastor's conference. Plus thanks to Mr. Bertrand I've been aching to get my hands on a good goatskin bible.

I've been reading the ESV on my Treo 650 for my evening devotions for months now. With all of that said I started comparing what this bible has in line with my list and it looks like the ESV Study Bible is one worth owning. The one downside is that it's large - weighing in at 2,752 pages and a trim size of 6 ½ × 9 ¼ inches.

As far as quality components go, the paper is reputed to be the finest in the world, high-opacity. Smyth Sewn binding - in every format. The text it self is 9-point set in a single paragraphed column (Words of Christ in black!) with 7.25-point notes set in two columns.