I am fond of thin Bibles. They’re light, easy to carry, and easy to hold for long periods of time. This usually means thin paper that has way too much show-through, and far too often, small print. This isn’t the case with Thomas Nelson’s newest line of Comfort Print® Bibles.
This line of Bibles focuses on font design. They’ve worked with 2K/Denmark to design three new typefaces: one for the KJV, one for the NKJV, and one for the NIV. In this review I’m taking a look at the new font in the large print thinline KJV in three covers.
Cover and Binding
The black and burgundy editions are Leathersoft. They have a nice grain and feel. The front has Holy Bible printed in gold. The spine has Holy Bible, KJV, and the Thomas Nelson logo along with five spine-ridge marks. It has gold gilted edges.
The Leathersoft will take some breaking in before it will lie open in Genesis and it doesn’t want to close all the way after being opened. It’s one of the better imitation leathers that I’ve seen. It has stitching around the perimeter, giving it a finished look – especially when opened. The paste-down liner is paper and includes a presentation page.
The black/gray cloth over board does not include gilting and has square edges. It has two colors and a paper past-down liner. It lies open on the first page right out of the box. It’s great for preaching or reading when you want to lay the Bible on the pulpit or table. The cloth looks and feels elegant.
The text-block is sewn, making this an excellent candidate for a rebind once the imitation cover wears out. It has two ribbons which can be pulled to the corner with room to spare. This is a thin Bible. The overall size is 9.6 x 6.6 x 1” with 1174 pages, making it a great choice for carry and holding for long periods of time.
Black ISBN: 9780718098070
Burgundy ISBN: 9780718098131
Black/Gray Cloth over Board ISBN: 9780718097912
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Paper
I’m just guessing on the gsm, but it feels like around 30gsm to my fingers. The paper is white with a slightly red color that just noticeable if you look for it. The paper has the right contrast with the typeface to make it readable for long periods of time. It has very little show-through. This is some of the most opaque paper I’ve seen in a thinline Bible. The pages are easy to turn and feels high quality. I haven’t seen any page-curl with this Bible even when I’ve had page-curl with other (far more expensive) Bibles.
Typography
This is a text-only edition with section headings. The text is presented in double-column, verse-by-verse format. It has lots of section headings which help separate paragraphs. I’d like to see this available in a paragraph edition. Verse numbers are large and appear at the beginning of the verse (not indented). The header includes the index verses in the outer margins and page numbers in the center.
The real star of the show is the typeface. This font was designed by 2K/Denmark specifically for the Thomas Nelson KJV line with the purpose of high readability. It was based on a Scotch Roman font found in a Thomas Nelson publication called Novum Testamentum in the 1844. This feels like a Thomas Nelson font, and that’s a good thing.
Here are a couple of videos explaining the design of the font.
The font is 10-point and is highly readable. It’s is darker than most Bibles but not too bold. The red letter is about a medium shade. I wouldn’t mind if it were a little darker shade of red. The red letter continues through Revelation. The print quality is consistent throughout the Bible.
It does include italics for supplied words but it does not include pronunciation marks. Since it’s a text-only edition the text is clear of numbers and letters that hinder readability. It has enough space between the lines to be comfortable. It seems to be printed with line-matching.
It has around 44 characters per line with around 8 words per line, and 58 lines per page. The wider columns help keep the text from feeling crowded. Books start on a new page, giving some room for notes.
Reading Plan
The one-year reading plan gives you a morning and evening reading. The morning reading is from the New Testament while the evening reading is from the Old Testament, so the largest portion of reading is in the second reading. Each are in biblical order.
30 Days with Jesus
This is a one-page chart with 30 references about Jesus. It provides the day and the reference. These are select chapters from the Gospels. This works great as a devotional. I’d like to see the topic included.
Since there are no other tools (no concordance or other charts), I think it would be helpful to have a few charts for parables, miracles of Jesus, teachings of Jesus, glossary of archaic words (my first choice), etc. In reality those are easy enough to find elsewhere, but there are a couple of pages that could have been used for something.
Maps
It has 7 full-color maps on 8 thick glossy pages. It doesn’t have an index, but the maps are annotated and labeled well. They cover topography, distance, journeys, cities, borders, battles, etc. They include Scripture references.
Maps include:
- World of the Patriarchs
- Exodus and the Conquest of Canaan
- Land of the Twelve Tribes
- Kingdom of David and Solomon
- Jesus’ Ministry
- Paul’s Missionary Journeys
- Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus
Conclusion
Thomas Nelson knocked it out of the park with this typeface. Combined with the paper, the Large Print Thinline Bible is a great choice for reading, carry, and preaching. I’m a fan of thinline editions and this is the best text-only thinline I know of. The section headings help break up the text into smaller portions, which is helpful for both reading and preaching. It’s thin and light, making it great for carry and holding, but the paper and doesn’t suffer because of it.
This is one of those Bibles that I like to pick up and read for long periods of time. That was Thomas Nelson’s goal with the Large Print Thinline and the Comfort Print ® typeface. Judging by how well executed the typeface is, I’d say they succeeded.
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Photography by hannah C brown
Thomas Nelson provided this Bible free for review. I was not required to give a positive review – only an honest review. My opinions are my own.
I wish there was a black-letter option! Red letter Bibles are always deal breakers for me. Thanks for the review Randy!
How shameful to be offended by the words of the Saviour of the world being in red – the color of His blood which was shed for you.
I am deeply ashamed…however I don’t think the color of my Saviour’s blood was pink?–wink.
I agree Richard, having both options is much appreciated.
In reference to the thinking that Bryce is putting forth- LOL.
What is this Millennial Christianity?
Does every little preference have to be labeled as offensive & insensitive?
LOVE – MATURITY – UNITY
The words my precious King of Kings could be purple & orange mixed together for all I care. As long as I get them mixed in my spiritual heart with faith so that when I confess the Word of God it will bring forth results & glorify our Awesome & Loving Triune God.
It’s a scientific process with two dimensions interacting with each other.
It involves meditating, confessing, & then living it out.
Or are we going to continue this Religious Attitude, constantly acting out from the flesh, arguing over minute details that cause division?
There is so much ignorance in the body of Christ it is astounding, and YES the Church has “failed” for so many years to the point the Holy Spirit has had to pick up the slack because of a lack of ministers rising up to teach the body of Christ properly on how to be Strong & Mature Believers In Christ.
Let’s grow up some please. Red letter or Black letter, it does not matter.
Get the Word of God in your Hearts so that it produces results which will benefit both Red Letter Bible Readers and Black Letter Bible Readers. ROFL….. so silly to have to make this correction, but we all have to start leaving the spiritual milk bottle some day. 🙂
Does the packaging say “Comfort Print” anywhere on it?
Also, what do you know about the NKJV version? Same font? When available?
Hi Dave. It doesn’t say Comfort Print, but it does say “Featuring the new Thomas Nelson KJV Font” on the back of the box.
If I understood correctly the NKJV will have it’s own font. I’m not sure of the release date. I’ve asked Nelson. I’ll post it here.
Those videos act like they went through such tremendous research and hard work, and the result is just featureless plain text bibles. They didn’t even include the whole translation. There is no excuse for a big publisher like Thomas Nelson not having the KJV translator’s notes in their bibles. This would have been a hundred times better if the Hebrew/Greek footnotes had been included. How hard would it be to include them in the footer anyway? I bet Nelson doesn’t even know what they are. Do you think Crossway would ever leave out the ESV’s translator’s notes? Or Zondervan the NIV’s translator’s notes? No, never, that would deny the reader part of the translation. But readers of the kjv ARE DENIED the KJV translator’s notes and part of the translation. And for what good reason? There is none.
It seems Nelson is even shying away from including references nowadays. What else can Thomas Nelson leave out to make publishing easier FOR THEMSELVES? I wouldn’t expect stellar sales for plain text bibles with the essentials omitted. They’ve also gone a little overboard with the in-text headings. I think Thomas Nelson is in desperate need of NEW MANAGEMENT OR NEW BIBLE EDITORS.
Is this printed in Korea or China?
Hi Erik. It’s printed in China. Thanks for asking. I meant to include that.
We prefer Holy Bibles which properly identify Matthew, Luke, John and Mark as St. Matthew, St. Luke etc. Also, The Holy Bible printed in the United States of America are preferred to one printed in Korea or worse yet Red China, a country of slave labor where Holy Bibles are mostly forbidden.
Who is the we in “We prefer…?”