LinksJ. MARK BERTRAND14 Comments

Good Deals

LinksJ. MARK BERTRAND14 Comments

If you haven't been watching the exchange rates recently, you might not realize that the value of the British pound against the dollar has fallen considerably. Today at XE.com, one pound is worth $1.59. Not long ago, it was north of $1.90. That means an £85 Bible from R. L. Allan & Sons that would have cost more than $160 not long ago is closer to $135 now. So far, my efforts to convince my wife that going crazy on the Swaine Adeney Brigg site now makes good economic sense have met with little success, though.

Crossway is offering seconds of the ESV Thinline bound in cordovan calfskin for just $75. This is not only a $75 savings over retail, but about $30 less than the discounted firsts on Amazon. If you don't mind a Bible with a little damage -- and let's face it, a little damage up front might help you worry less about "abusing" a nice edition -- then this is worth considering. The cordovan calfskin is my favorite binding from Crossway. The large print in black calfskin is half off at $100, too.

I've come across another ESV deal, too, this time at EvangelicalBible.com, where they have a calfskin hardback Journaling Bible discounted to just $33.75. I have one of these and it's an elegant edition -- it would make a nice gift, too.

Any other deals out there? Let us know in the comments.

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.