Greek NT in Tan Calfskin by LeatherBibles.com

When my friend Scott Kay shared his stack of Bibles with us, I couldn't help noticing the Greek NT he'd had rebound by LeatherBibles.com. Since I receive a fair amount of questions about that site, and don't have much first-hand experience, I asked Scott to share some photos and tell us about the rebinding process. Here's his report:

As a student of Scripture, one of my great loves is the Greek New Testament. There’s nothing quite like digging into the depths of a passage in the original language and mining out the riches for yourself. Secondary sources like commentaries are invaluable as a resource, but they are still only secondary sources. In fact, I would be quick to say that the single greatest benefit seminary afforded me was the opportunity to learn Greek so I could study the text for myself. Nothing has proven more beneficial in my own grasp of Scripture.

As a pastor, my weekly duties revolve around delivering expository sermons to the congregation. So, wrestling with the translation and meaning of the Greek text of a given passage is a regular task for me.

As a result, I am in constant contact with a UBS4 Greek New Testament. For some time, I had searched high and low to find a leather bound edition with a flexible cover. The United Bible Society offers a leather bound edition, but the cover is just as stiff as the normal hardback editions they sell. So, I decided to take a hardback edition and have it rebound in calfskin.

At the time I was ready to proceed with the project, the only high quality Bible rebinder I could find was LeatherBibles.com. They don’t sell a Greek New Testament, but they do take special orders.

The special order process is a simple but lengthy one. For around $190, I simply had to specify which particular Bible I wanted them to bind and the color of calfskin in which I wanted it bound. They purchase the Bible and rebind it as part of the price.

I specified a tan calfskin UBS4 with the dictionary (I had to provide the ISBN #). At the time, I didn’t think of anything else to specify (ribbons, stamping, raised bands, end pages, etc.), but despite my ignorance, LeatherBibles did a fantastic job.

The leather is a beautiful hue of tan. It’s not too orange, and just the right degree of brown. The calfskin is quite soft and flexible, and arrived in a beautiful matte finish. It compares very similarly to the leather on a Nelson Signature Series Bible.

Even though the hardback edition comes sewn, it appears that LeatherBibles had it resewn nicely as part of the price. They added two ¼” brown satin ribbons, gold stamping and raised bands on the spine, along with semi-yapp edges, and black leather-lined backing. Which, as it turns out, is exactly what I would have wanted. They really thought through the details well, and took great care to provide me with a beautiful and functional Bible.

The hardbacks lay very flat from the start, and this rebinding only seemed to have lost a little of that flexibility. Even the dictionary section in the very back lies fairly flat. Smaller Bibles like these make it more difficult to achieve the flatness of a hardback, since they lack weight, so for the size, I am quite pleased with the flexibility.

The only thing lost on rebinding a UBS4 are the 2 maps that come glued to the inside of the hardback covers. The 2 maps that are printed on the end pages were retained.

From time of order to arrival of my Bible, was a good 4-5 months, the time listed on their website. A long wait, to be sure, but it was well worth it. I absolutely love this little Bible.

Thanks for the report, Scott. I appreciate all the effort you put into the photos, too!

Comments

[Daniel Jackson]

Scott, are the ribbons both the same color? It's a little hard to tell. Are they black? And do you happen know the width used here? Thanks!

[matt]

Daniel - I believe he mentioned the ribbons were "two ¼” brown satin ribbons".

Scott - the bible looks wonderful. Nice matte finish on the beautiful tan (I have a soft spot for tan recently) calfskin.

Between calfskin and goatskin all my natural senses are satisfied.

Interesting on the turn around time, When I spoke with Leatherbibles.com they also told me it would be about 4-5 months. They said quick was 3 months...I couldnt do it!!! My patience is not that strong (I begin to have heart problems after the 2nd week). But most binders I talk to too say that they finish bibles in a day (i.e. it doesnt take a pro very long to rebind a bible) so I wonder why leatherbibles.com takes so long?

[Scott Kay]

Daniel - the ribbons are both 1/4" dark brown satin. They seem to be of nice quality too.

Matt - Yes, the wait time seemed quite long to me too. I really don't know what the reason for it is. It was all I could do to wait that long, but then, at the time I wasn't aware of any of the other options that this blog has so helpfully introduced us to.

[Steve Robenalt]

Scott - the bible looks great! I have a UBS4 from seminary, but not with the dictionary in the back. I wasn't aware of this addition. Is this the same as the readers addition or is it different? Do you have an ISBN # so that I can check into it? Thanks

[Jay Davis]

I had leatherbibles.com do a TNIV XL tutone calfskin. Long wait but a good job!

[Scott Kay]

Steve - the ISBN for the UBS4 with the dictionary is: 3-438-05113-3. This is not the reader's edition, but the normal one with the critical apparatus at the bottom of each page. I'm thinking of having a reader's edition rebound though when it becomes available from Amazon.

[David Doyle]

Scott,

The USB Reader's Edition is available - I got mine on Monday and then on Tuesday shipped it out to Mechling Bookbinding for a new cover. I'll post when it's back.

[Vincent Ramirez]

Does leatherbibles.com use any type of board in the binding? I ask because I had an old Bible rebound at Mechling using the Deluxe Package. Goatskin, leather lined, very limp (but with thin board). They did a good job, but seemed a little industrial to me. You can tell it was hand done (in a good way) verses perfectly rebound via machines. They did have a quick turnover of 1 week so I would find 3-4 months unbearable.

[Scott Kay]

David - That sounds great. I look forward to seeing it from Mechling. Too bad you beat me to it :)

Vincent - I do not think that there is any board in the cover at all. At least, if there is, it is undiscernable, because the cover is quite flexible. In fact, the cover seems even more limp than the 4th picture Matt Morales took of his Mechling ESV here: http://jmarkbertrand.typepad.com/bibledesign/2008/01/another-esv-wid.html

[Jesus Saenz]

Very nice GNT, Scott.

I want to buy a synopsis of the four gospels and have that rebound, a project for later this year.

[Steve Robenalt]

David & Scott - I also noticed the UBS Readers Edition on Amazon. Now I'm wondering which might be a better edition for studies, the readers or with dictionary at back. I know this is a little off topic from the covers, but any thoughts from either of you would be appreciated.

[Scott Kay]

Steve,

Actually I share your quandary a bit. The reader's edition that I pre-ordered from Amazon has shipped, but has not yet arrived. For me, the edition with the dictionary is best for detailed study and exegesis, because you get the critical apparatus and have access to a fuller dictionary in the back. I plan on using the readers edition for just that: reading. I need the practice, and since the truncated definitions at the bottom of each page are not as extensive as the ones in the back of the dictionary edition, they really are only meant to serve as a useful help to keeping you moving through the text more rapidly, which is what I want to be better at doing. But, I can't do that as well with the regular edition, since I still encounter unfamiliar words that slow me down. With that said, the reader's edition is really the one that would be most worthy of being rebound in a leather cover, since I will tend to carry it more places and not be as tethered to my desk during sermon prep, as I still tend to be with the one I reviewed here.

[David Doyle]

Jesus,

I'll share my thoughts about Reader's Ed or dictionary in the back. My first exposure to Greek was taking the Moody Bible correspondence course in 1978 when I was called to pastor a little church in Maine. I was still working on my BA and wanted to be sure of what I was preaching on (Ah, the naivety of the young pastor). I passed, but didn't really know what I was doing. I finished my "formal" Greek studies with my M.Div from GCTS in 1985. I found that my fluency/facility with Greek was like water leaking out of a rusty bucket, and I just didn't have time to keep it up. Oh, I'd use it for word studies, very literal and wooden translations, but I wasn't reading it as it was just too much work.
I did my D.Min (again GCTS) from 1990-1995 and again had to get my Greek up to snuff (a much harder thing than learning it in the first place). But then again, I just couldn't keep it current following the degree work even though I made a valiant effort to do so.
I started reading Greek using the Zerwick Grammatical Analysis. I found that it was a whole lot easier to have the necessary vocab in front of me. When I first discovered the Readers Editions (I've got both the USB and the Zondervan) it was the perfect combination for me to keep my head above water.

So, with that background, I'd say that if you can bring your level of Greek to a place where you don't need the extra helps of a Reader's Edition, then that is the way to go. But for someone like me, the Reader's Edition is the only thing that is keeping me in the game.
Also, I like the UBS edition much better than the Zondervan edition - I like the font much better, I like layout of columns instead of paragraphs for the glosses, and I like the fact that some of the harder verbs are parsed.

[Steve Robenalt]

Thanks for your helpful comments. I'm thinking the readers edition would be worth trying out and getting rebound. It would be a nice bible to carry around, trying to use more frequently.

David - I'll look forward to hearing and seeing how your rebound turns out!

[Michael Swoveland]

Looks like a very nice binding job was done, but there is no way I could wait 4 to 5 months! My Bible was away at the binder's for 11 days and the wait almost killed me. You do have me thinking about having my Greek NT rebound now.

[PDS]

How about a goatskin cover for my IPOD? :)

[Steve Robenalt]

Scott - don't know if you'll get this, but I have a follow up question to the ISBN # you sent me. I noticed on amazon that there are two editions, one with english intro and one without. Does this make any difference in your opinion? I'm assuming it's an intro at beginning rather than each book.

Also, when you ordered your rebound NT, did the $190 figure include the NT that they had to purchase. I'm just wondering if it's better to have them get as compared to me and then sending it to them.

Thanks, Steve