Inside an Allan's Reference ESV
From time to time, I intend to post answers to some of the most frequently asked questions I receive. The biggest by far has to be this one:Q. How does the interior of the Allan's Reference ESV differ from the one available from Crossway? A. Not a lot. R. L. Allan's is essentially taking a text block printed by Collins, the UK publisher of the ESV, and binding it. Type style and size are the same. The biggest difference you will notice is that the UK edition does not put the words of Christ in red. Also absent are the book introductions familiar from the American version. You may run across the occasional Anglicized spelling, but if you're familiar with the Classic Reference edition published by Crossway, there will be no big shocks when you open the Allan's ESV. The difference is the binding and the art-gilt edges.
J. Mark Bertrand is a novelist and pastor whose writing on Bible design has helped spark a publishing revolution. Mark is the author of Rethinking Worldview: Learning to Think, Live, and Speak in This World (Crossway, 2007), as well as the novels Back on Murder, Pattern of Wounds, and Nothing to Hide—described as a “series worth getting attached to” (Christianity Today) by “a major crime fiction talent” (Weekly Standard) in the vein of Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin, and Henning Mankell.
Mark has a BA in English Literature from Union University, an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston, and an M.Div. from Heidelberg Theological Seminary. Through his influential Bible Design Blog, Mark has championed a new generation of readable Bibles. He is a founding member of the steering committee of the Society of Bible Craftsmanship, and chairs the Society’s Award Committee. His work was featured in the November 2021 issue of FaithLife’s Bible Study Magazine.
Mark also serves on the board of Worldview Academy, where he has been a member of the faculty of theology since 2003. Since 2017, he has been an ordained teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America. He and his wife Laurie life in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.