Upcoming Personal Size Reference ESVs
The ESV Blog, in publishing a round-up of Personal Size Reference reviews, hints at a couple of upcoming options:
"Concerning the request for a calfskin edition of this Bible, you shouldn’t expect one this year (2008). However, on Amazon you can find a couple of otherwise-unannounced Personal Size Reference Bibles that are coming out this summer if you do some digging."
So I did some digging and came up with two new TruTone covers: the "Navy/Khaki/Pearl, Horizontal Design" and the "Forest/Tan, Trail Design." They both look tastefully restrained in comparison to a lot of youth-oriented Bibles. Looks like June 30 is the release date, but you can pre-order by following the links. If I missed any, let me know! Apparently I also have the distinction of having authored "the über-review, with 3,500 words and twenty-one pictures." If you haven't seen it already, be sure to check it out: Personal Size Reference ESV.
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.