Mechling Rebinds a Personal Size Reference ESV
It must be rebinding week here at the BibleDesignBlog.com, because I'm receiving lots of great photos to share. Get ready to salivate, friends. Let's begin with a new project done by Mechling Bookbindery. Regular reader Brian Fox sent them his new Personal Size Reference ESV for treatment -- the genuine leather edition, which has a sewn binding. Here are the results, in Brian's own words:
I sent a genuine leather ESV Personal Size Reference Bible to Mechling, and I am pleased to share it with you. I chose chocolate goatskin, with the raised bands, translation name (once rather than thrice), and two deluxe ribbons. In many ways, it is similar to Kyle Hedrick's scarlet RSV. If I could change one thing, the top and bottom of the spine would have the nice bulges that Alan Cornett's NASB NT has.
The Mechling rebind is 1/4" taller than the TruTone edition. It also feels more substantial.
While it is not as nice as my Allan's ESV, the chocolate goatskin feels very luxurious in my hands. There is a world of difference compared to the veneer of leather over cardboard that originally came with this Bible.
The spine is rather tight, and the cover is not as flexible as some of my other high-end Bibles, I plan on breaking it in over the course of many years, and I trust that it will loosen. Rebinds have been described as "rustic" looking, and I agree that the word applies to this rebind. It is no Allan's, but it is custom made to my specifications. It has its own character, and it will be my new constant companion. The total cost from Mechling was $118.29 shipped. Do I have any regrets? No.
I would also like to add that the good folks at Mechling put up with my obsessive compulsive fears that they were making mistakes, and my need to check on if they were doing it right, and they were very professional and helpful. I opted for the speedy service for $25 extra, and they completed it in three weeks, and did not charge me the $25. I guess they did not have the six week backlog and were honest enough to not charge extra. I appreciate that.
Other than art-gilt page edges and full yapp, this is the closest thing for me to the perfect compact Bible.
-- Brian Fox
Thanks, Brian, for sharing the results of your project. Looks like you need to pull those pages apart! Stay tuned for more rebinding goodness in the days ahead, everybody!
UPDATE
Brian snapped a couple of outdoor shots so we could see the color of the leather cover in natural light. Here there are:
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.