Review of the Holman, New King James Version, (NKJV) Large Print, Personal Size, Reference Bible, in Brown Genuine Cowhide, Indexed, Red Letter Edition.

Not too many Bibles from large publishers like Holman surprise me. This one is the exception.  I am accustomed to receiving Bibles from big publishers that are for lack of a better term, “disposable.”  Many of them seem to make Bibles that you can use for a couple of years and then have to throw it away when it begins to fall apart.  This Bible truly surprised me.  It came in the mail packed in a white plastic bag-elope.  I was immediately expecting some substandard, mass produced, mail abused, Bible.  I opened the bag and didn’t notice any damage to the box…  bonus!  I was glad that the corners weren’t mashed.  I opened the box (keep the box for storage) and was presented with black construction paper.

I seriously hoped that wasn’t the cover.  Upon closer inspection I determined that the black construction paper was there to protect the supple and soft genuine cowhide cover.  It smelled like a new leather jacket and the texture was very pleasant.

One of the most important parts of a Bible is the binding.  Naturally I checked that next.  I was pleased to see that it had a sewn binding.  This makes a Bible last longer and lay flat when you want to read it.

Have you ever had to struggle against an intrusive and rude cover made of bonded leather, always trying to close on you?  Have you ever had a fake leather cover get stained, scuffed, or torn?  Well I have, and that is why I love genuine leather and goatskin covers with sewn bindings so much.  This Bible’s chocolate brown colored leather cover is lined with a vinyl sheet matching the cover’s color.  The lining is glued down.  This is pretty typical.  I was hoping to see it lined with a higher quality material sewn to the cover, but for the price of this Bible and the features it has I can’t complain.

This Bible can be purchased for about $48.00 on a couple of different web sites. Christianbook.com has it here and Amazon.com here.  I was a bit surprised to see that this Bible was made in China.

I was surprised because they seemed to have put it together pretty well.  There is a slight problem with the binding at the bottom, but that could be one of the drawbacks of having it banged around during shipping from China to the States.  It didn’t look like a manufacturing problem as much as shipping damage.  The pages are gilded and indexed.

The indexes caught my eye as they are rectangular with rounded shoulders.  The usual ones are crescent shaped.  The New Testament ones were red and the Old Testament ones were black.  The spine is gilded with the, NKJV in a circle at the top, and, “Holy Bible” in the middle, with Holman’s logo at the bottom.  The spine has decorative hubs.

When you open this Bible up you first have the normal presentation and records pages as well as the publishers information.  Then there is some info on the NKJV translation and a page with the plan of salvation.  I was expecting cheaper paper that was more translucent, smaller font, and more ghosting. (text from the page behind showing through)  I was very pleasantly surprised again.  The paper was pretty opaque for a less expensive Bible.  Well, even for some more expensive Bibles it was pretty opaque.

The font looks to be twelve point and is clear and legible.  The Bible is a double column, paragraph format with some foot notes and references at the bottom of the page.  This was a smart move.  Doing it this way enabled them to print some large font while keeping the size down.  This was going to become my daily reader until my dear wife picked it up.  I think to quote her she said, “Oooh this is so soft and nice…  Can I have it?”  What can you do? This Bible has one ribbon marker matching the color of the cover.

It opens nicely and is very easy to read.  I love the accuracy of the NKJV.  This Bible has some colored maps at the end.  I highly recommend this Bible for those looking for a daily reader without a bunch of distractions.  It is comfortable to hold and easy on the eyes with the opaque paper and large font.  All of this with the low price makes it an excellent value and asset.

Dimensions: 8.13 X 5.38 X 1.13 (inches)
ISBN: 1433613190
ISBN-13: 9781433613197

I received this Bible free of charge for the purpose of writing a review and am not obligated to write a positive review.