Purple Goatskin, No Numbers, Hipsters, and Writing in Your Bible
And I'm back. Sort of. At least I will be back next week, with some interesting Bibles to talk about from Schuyler, Cambridge, and R. L. Allan. I also have some thoughts to share on reader-friendly editions. In the meantime, here are a few items to check out. BORN TO THE PURPLE Tired of living in a world where there are no purple goatskin reference ESVs? Be of good cheer. Pre-orders are now being taken for the limited edition R. L. Allan New Classic Reader in purple Highland goatskin. This first edition, stamped accordingly, will only number 75 copies, which should ship in November. Given the limited quantity, I'm not likely to get my hands on a review copy, but if you're curious about this edition, check out the review of this Bible bound in blue which I posted in June.
WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' NUMBERS! If you missed it earlier, Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra's piece for Christianity Today on Bibliotheca and reader-friendly Bibles is worth checking out: "The Book of No Numbers: Deleting some stuff from the Bible can be profitable -- and okay." I enjoyed talking to Sarah for the piece, and hope it helps bring more attention to the idea of Bibles designed for reading.
WHEN THEY CAME FOR THE HIPSTERS, I SAID NOTHING Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but satire is a close second. Enter Biblica Hipsteria. Equating reader-friendly design with hipsterdom would make me sad if the project hadn't gone viral, but then I'm typing this on a MacBook Air as I gaze at the screen through tortoiseshell glasses. And I came really close to wearing a bow tie today.
PENCIL IT IN Finally, I'm in love with this post from the Crossway blog circa mid-August: "What Do I Use to Write in My Bible?" They tested four different writing instruments on a Single Column Heritage ESV to see what worked best, and posted photos to demonstrate. The Pigma Micron did well, as expected, but I'm leaning more and more to pencil as the best option.
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.
