Zondervan’s NRSV Thinline Large Print Bible is a text edition of the New Revised Standard Version with a Comfort Print typeface designed specifically for this translation by 2K/Denmark. It provides a clean and readable design that’s worthy of the name Comfort Print. It’s available in several covers. I’m reviewing the brown Leathersoft, ISBN: 9780310452492, printed in China.
Zondervan provided this Bible in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.
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This book is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
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Table of Contents
Video Review
Cover and Binding
The cover is brown Leathersoft. It has a section sewn into the middle that gives it two different textures and shades. The top and bottom portions have a nice grain with a rough texture and the center section has a smooth texture and is darker. Both are dark brown with enough variation in their colors to give it an interesting design. The name, rib indications, and logo on the spine are dry stamped. I love these colors and textures.
It also has perimeter stitching and a paper liner. The liner doubles as the presentation page, which is the only thick end sheet. It has a sewn binding. It’s a little stiff and doesn’t want to stay open until you get to Leviticus. I’m sure it will break in with enough use.
At less than an inch thick, this is a true thinline. The overall size is 9.5 x 6.5 x 1″ and it weighs 1 lb. 11.9 oz. It has two ribbons: one light brown and one dark brown.
Paper
I’m not sure of the gsm, but it seems to be in the mid 30s. It’s off-white in color and has a rough texture that makes the pages easier to separate and turn. It’s highly opaque and has no glare under direct light. This is excellent paper for reading and highlighting.
In the back are four lined pages for notes.
Typography
The text is set in a double-column paragraph layout. The layout is elegant. It has a line drawn across the top with a decorative icon in the inner margin. The outer margin includes the book name, chapter, and verse numbers. The page number is placed just inside this. The footnotes are placed in the bottom right corner of the right page and also includes the decorative line.
It’s typeset in the 12.4-point Comfort Print font that was designed for the NRSV by 2K/Denmark. It’s a black-letter text and it’s dark and consistent throughout. It has around 7 words per line and is printed with line-matching. I like the typeface a lot. The letter ‘g’ stands out as different and doesn’t really look like it fits to me, but that’s just me being picky. I’m sure there’s a good reason for that design.
Even with the lower word-count, the poetic settings work well because of the way the lines are indented. They don’t just print to the end of the line and place the rest under it. They actually break the poetic line in a place that makes the most sense, and then it indents that line further so it stands apart from the next line. The beginning of the thought is not indented. It also uses line breaks to separate major thoughts.
Section headings are large and bold. The first verse number of each paragraph is large and bold. This helps track down which paragraph verses are in. The verse numbers within the paragraphs are small and I found them more difficult to find quickly, but they’re great for reading. It has a large enough inner margin to help bring the text out of the gutter so it doesn’t bend out of view. Footnote keys are superscript and are not too bold. I found them easy enough to ignore for reading.
Footnotes
Footnotes are placed in the bottom right corner of the right page unless the last page of the book is on the left. I like how clean this makes the page, but this did take me some time to get used to. The footnotes include the chapter and verse number as well as the footnote key.
The footnotes include Greek and Hebrew, definitions, alternate renderings, renderings from “other ancient authorities” (but doesn’t identify them), alternate renderings from other ancient translations and languages that it does identify, etc. I found them interesting and insightful.
Extra Material
It has several tools in the back for reading and study. These are great for reference, study, sermon prep, personal devotions, etc.
Reading Plan – Rather than a single reading plan, it provides a list of reading methods including reading the Bible for the first time, reading it in one year, and reading it in two years. It includes a list of all of the chapters for each book of the Bible. Each chapter has a box that you can mark that you’ve read that chapter. I recommend marking just in one corner and using different types of markings so you can use it over and over.
Miracles of Jesus – This is a table with all of the miracles divided into themes and the reference to each miracle from each of the Gospels.
Parables of Jesus – This is a table of the parables that Jesus taught with references to each book in the Gospels.
Perspectives from the Bible – This is a list of Scriptures to read for different situations.
Prayers of the Bible – This is a list that shows prayers from various sections of the Bible or by certain people in the Bible. It provides a detailed description of the prayer and gives the references where it can be found.
Promises from the Bible – This is a list of situations and lots of references to promises for those situations.
Conclusion
The NRSV Thinline Large Print Bible is a joy to read. The imitation leather looks and feels nice. The paper is easy to turn and it’s highly readable. The font fits the translation nicely. Poetry looks nice and is easier to read because of how the lines are separated. It did take a little time for me to get used to the footnotes only being on the right page.
The NRSV Thinline Large Print Bible is an excellent edition of the NRSV and is an good choice if you need something on a budget and you want to rebind or replace it once the imitation leather wares out. I highly recommend this edition to any NRSV reader that’s looking for a large print edition with a dark font that won’t break the bank.
_________________________________________________________
This book is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
_________________________________________________________
Zondervan provided this Bible in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to give a positive review, only an honest one. All opinions are my own.
Excellent review, Randy! I just bought one of these, only mine has the black Leathersoft cover rather than the two-tone brown. My only comments are that I am a bit less impressed with the ribbon markers, which I think are too thin and not very well made. Also, like you, I am not very impressed with the lower-case “g” design, with its missing loop. Other than these very minor criticisms, I think this is a very good Bible, and I am glad to see Zondervan step up and produce such an excellent edition. It is long overdue. I am happy I added it to my Bible library.
Thanks Mike! I’m with you. It’s great to see this one added to the Zondervan lineup.
Don’t like the “g” either. Too me, it looks like a printing error when I see it.
I wonder why Zondervan didn’t strip out the NRSV’s translator’s notes like they did the KJV?