Let’s look at the Holman HCSB Personal Size Reference Bible, red letter edition, in Brown Genuine Cowhide, with indexes.
Holman shipped this Bible in a cardboard box and cushioned it with paper packaging material.
The two piece retail box should be kept for storage.
Holman wraps their genuine cowhide Bibles with construction paper to make them keep their shape and prevent damage while being shipped. When I opened the retail package I was presented with the wrapped Bible. After removing the wraps, they chocolaty brown genuine cowhide is revealed.
It has the feel of a quality Bible to it. It also has an affordable price. The cowhide is supple and soft.
The cover is lined with vinyl on the inside and glued down. This adds a bit of rigidity to the cover, but in my opinion just as much as is needed to make it easier to hold and read. Some Bibles are too floppy.
This Bible is about 8.25″ x 5.75″ x 1.25″ It is a very convenient size to carry around in your hand or in a medium bag of some kind. It is too large for a small lunch box or purse. I like the size of it for use in a chair without a table or desk. The overall dimensions and format are conducive to reading even though it is not a readers edition.
The spine of the Bible has at the top, “HCSB” and the logo above it, and, “Holy Bible” in the middle, and then, Holman’s logo at the bottom in gold. The spine is also decorated with hubs reminiscent of the raised hubs that were produced by the journals being sewed to the journal cords before the use of thinner journal tapes. Today as a rule they are decorative. They do add a bit of appeal to a Bible.
This Bible has a modern sewn binding. It is pretty comparable to the other Bibles from China with a sewn binding. Holman seems to do a better job of quality control than some of the other publishers I have seen that produce for the same market. The bindings we see from Jongbloed in the Netherlands are still a cut above. That is why they work for the luxury crowd. For a great value, this fits the bill. You can take it all over and not feel like a sinner for indulging in a $250.00 Bible, and you have the added benefit of not worrying it gets a wrinkled page.
The pages are gilded.
There is one narrow ribbon marker that matches the color of the cover.
There is a copyright page showing that this Bible was made in China. Then after that is a Table of Contents, How to Use the Bible, Gospel Presentation, Translation Notes, and then the text of the Bible begins. It is arranged in a two column paragraph format with end of paragraph cross-references, and footnotes at the bottom of the page. This setting is less cluttered making it easy to read. The font is a 10.5 point font that is printed clearly and sharply on the page.
The paper could stand to be a bit thicker. In this edition the words of Jesus are printed in red.
I like the way the indexes are cut on this Bible they are rectangular with rounded corners instead of the more common crescent shape. The Old Testament ones are gold text on black and the New Testament ones are gold text on red.
After the book of Revelation you have, HCSB Bullet Notes, Table of Weights and Measures, Where to Turn, Titles of Jesus, Messianic Scriptures that Jesus Fulfilled, a brief Topical Concordance, and finally eight color maps. I found the Where to Turn section useful for new Christians as well as the section on prophecies fulfilled by Christ.
My overall impression of this Bible is that is a good quality workhorse for daily reading. It isn’t good for note taking due to the margins being minimal to accommodate the text. It isn’t chocked full of notes and references for the same reason. This is a Bible geared for daily reading. The binding does have a bit of page puckering in the gutter near the front and end of the Bible, but it isn’t that bad and doesn’t present at all after the first and last pages. For that purpose it works excellently and is a great value.
This particular Bible is in the Holman Christian Standard Bible translation. It is a more of an equivalent translation than anything else. It fills the gap left by the NIV when it went all apostate on us. Now when people need an easy to read translation I suggest the HCSB.
ISBN-13: 9781586407926 ISBN: 1586407929 Christianbook stock number CBD Stock No: WW407926
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