Hello, 14 point font! This is definitely what the Doctor ordered if your eyes aren’t what they used to be.
The giant print NASB was delivered to my house, as usual from Lockman Foundation’s sales branch, www.americanbiblesales.com it was packed in a cardboard box with paper as packaging material. It was sufficiently safe from harm.
Inside the box was a two piece retail box. I would suggest holding onto it for storage. Once opened, I was presented with a layer of plastic wrapping that had to be defeated before I could get this beauty out to examine it.
Once the plastic was discarded, I was pleasantly greeted by the familiar smell of a nice leather cover. There are numerous Bibles out there that say they have a genuine leather cover, but they look like and feel like bonded leather. They have a fake grain pressed into them and their covers look shiny. Not this big boy, the cover on this has nice texture and tactile feel to it. Honestly, for the small price of this Bible I’d expect a cheaper feeling cover. I thought the burgundy color was just right as well, not brazen, but still different than the venerable black.
The spine of the Bible has the words, “Holy Bible” at the top. Immediately below is, “New American Standard Bible Updated Edition.” At the bottom is, “Foundation Publications” and the NASB logo. Above them are the words, “Giant Print.” There are decorative lines separating the words.
The cover has a lined pressed into it around its perimeter for decorative purposes. It adds a nice touch to finish it off.
The inside cover is lined with a vinyl liner that is color matched to the cover. It is glued down over the corners and edges of the cover.
The text block is firmly attached to the cover. I noticed no problems with fit and finish. It looked pretty good for a Bible printed and bound in China.
The binding for that matter is a sewn binding. It is a tad bit tighter than some of the other ones that Lockman Foundation puts out. This is neither a draw back or a benefit as far as function goes. The Giant Print edition opens flat and is pleasant to use.
The sewn binding will help ensure years of use. The Giant Print Bible maintains typical 6 ½” x 9 ¼” for the width and height, but is a tad bit thicker at 1 ¾” It is a little heavier than your typical reference Bible, but not by much. Even with the slight size difference it is still pretty easy to hold and read.
The page edges are gold gilded.
The paper is a decent quality standard Bible paper 28 gsm. It doesn’t have a problem with text ghosting. I think Lockman must have realized that if you are buying a Bible with humongous font it isn’t because you have good eyesight. The Bible paper, 14 point font, and uniformly printed text, all aid in making this a very legible Bible without making it too cumbersome.
Also you should note that this is a red letter edition.
The text is in a double column verse format with references at the end of each paragraph. There are limited references, for a reference Bible. This one has about 13,000 references. I doubt that anyone considering a 14 point font giant print edition is worried about having a ton of references though.
There is a ribbon marker that matches the color of the cover. It is of average quality as far as ribbon markers go.
In the end there is a 146 page Dictionary/Thesaurus/Concordance. It should come in handy. There is enough there to be useful, but not so much as to unnecessarily add to the bulk.
After that we have a section devoted to book introductions. Each book in the Bible has a nice introduction to aid the reader in their studies.
Also, a section on God’s promises is provided after the book introductions.
“Where to find help when” and “Verses for reflection” appear at the very end before the color maps.
I think the biggest cons here would be the size of the Bible. For the very frail and elderly this would have to rest on a table for them to read it. However, most elderly people won’t have any trouble holding this Bible to read. The con is a very slight one. We all have to obey physics here. If you want giant text you have to sacrifice something. I don’t think I’ve seen a better job on a giant print edition to date.
The pros here are of course the 14 point font and the wonderful cover at a very reasonable price. Could hardly believe I was holding a $50 Bible. It could have been twice that. A noteworthy thing is that the presentation and records pages in the front seem to be a flat paper as opposed to the glossy paper they have been made out of. I hope that Lockman carries this over to the maps as well. This flat paper doesn’t crack or tear as easy as the glossy paper they have been made of in the past.
If you are in the market for one of these Giant Print Bibles they can be had for around $50. If you are lucky you might find them on sale for less. Here are a couple of links to make it easier.
http://www.americanbiblesales.com/search/isbnlist1.php?ISBN=1581351100&hilite=yes
ISBN: 1581351097
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