Pocket Psalter
You'd think the psalter -- the "songbook of the church" -- would be easy to find. Just try and find standalone copies and you'll discover it's not. After hunting around, though, I found an impressive example of the genre, a green hardback pocket Psalter published by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery (though I actually got mine from Liturgica.com). For $14, you get a hardback with a sewn binding, printed on "Mohawk Superfine, an acid-free paper of the highest quality and durability." The design is Old School in the best sense, a two-color layout that is a delight to the eyes and suggests a love both for the psalter and the printer's art.
This psalter is based on the Septuagint and is newly translated. It measures 4 1/4 x 6 1/2 x 5/8".
Is there anyone out there with some insight into psalters? I'd love to know more about what's out there, who uses them, and so on.
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.