Coming This Spring: Deluxe Compact TruTone ESV
More exciting news from Crossway about future editions of the ESV. As we wait with bated breath for this month's debut of the Personal Reference edition, the ESV Blog announced Friday that a new version of the Compact edition -- dubbed the Deluxe Compact TruTone -- will be coming out later this spring. (The availability date from Crossway is April 30.) The particulars are all positive:* A larger font (6.55 points vs. 6.2 points for the existing Compact TruTone)
* A different font (Lexicon No. 1 vs. Berkeley)
* A slightly larger physical size (3.875″ × 6″ vs. 3.75″ × 5.75″)
* A layout designed specifically for this page size
* The words of Christ in black (vs. the words of Christ in red)
What's more, the binding on these editions will be sewn. A small, pocket-sized ESV with a flexible TruTone cover and a sewn binding? A black-letter edition, to boot? I'm excited already. The four cover options, unfortunately, all have novelty designs on them, but I pre-ordered the subtlest of them, a grainy-looking brown with a cross design on the cover, and look forward to reviewing it here when it arrives.
Based on the page layout PDF, the Deluxe Compact TruTone appears to have a more readable layout than its predecessor, which had a reputation of being handy but hard to read (especially in low light). At 3.875 x 6, it should still be able to slip into a pocket easily, which is one of the traits I value in the original Compacts. Naturally, the sewn binding is a bonus -- and should make this the best rebinding candidate for people looking for a tiny ESV in goatskin or calf. (I'd love to see the Deluxe Compact -- and the Personal Reference, for that matter -- in Crossway's cordovan calfskin, too. But I'll take what I can get.)
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.