Storing Your Bible
Q. I now have quite a few Bibles, some of which are premium leather, what is the best way to store these? Flat? In a bookshelf? In their original box? A. The old time preacher in me is saying, "Bibles are meant to be used, not stored!" But I know exactly what you mean. Tolstoy once asked, "How much land does a man need?" My wife has wondered the same thing about Bibles. Growing up, I had just one Bible -- a gift, no less -- and it never occurred to me until my early twenties that it was possible to buy another. Once I got the bug, though, I never stopped, and this site is a testament to that fact.
On principle, I don't coddle the Bible I'm currently using. Typically, you'll find it on a table wherever I happened to set it down last. But what about the ones I'm not using? First off, I never store them upright on a bookshelf the way you would normal books, because the soft leather covers don't seem made for that. Instead, I stack them flat. If the original box is still around, I use it. Hardbacks are obviously an exception to this rule, and so are Bibles in the old Cambridge slip-cases, which are made to stand on the shelf. Everything else is on its side to avoid bending, which can crease covers and rumple pages.
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.