This American Bible Society Ruby, published in 1953 in Great Britain (that’s funny, I don’t care who you are), is a real gem (sorry about that. It couldn’t be helped). It’s pocket sized, has a sharp black-letter pronouncing text, amazing paper, maps, art-gilt, a ribbon, and best of all a goatskin (real morocco) cover. I found this on eBay and couldn’t pass it up. Normally I would think this small text would be too small to read, but since I recently got reading glasses (46 year-old eyes) I’ve been enjoying the smaller Bibles. This text is sharp and clean and consistent throughout. This Bible is a joy to hold and read. It’s hard to believe it’s over 6o years old. This is a true oldie but a goodie. If you the chance to get your hands on one I highly recommend it.
Wow! Fantastic Bible. Compact size, goatskin leather, and divinity circuit(which I recently learned means yapp!). Reminds me of my LCBP compact wide margin in terms of form factor. Oh how I wish they would do a goatskin bound edition! I love the quality of their bindings.
I love their bindings too. I’ve seen a few goatskin editions from them from a few years ago (called morocco). I wish they would make them again. I have their lambskin 400th edition. The lambskin leather is amazing. I also wish they would make this one. This Bible is a joy to read.
Dear Randy:
I’ve seen one of these Bibles, the person owning it is no doubt still alive and is still using it. Bibles of this size with reasonable sized printing are wonderful for any situation where one handed reading is an option (my dog in my lap would prevent any reading at all as she is almost 90 lbs). I wish this Bible was still available. Our choices of high quality products are vanishing, one only has to look at any industry and look at the top quality product and compare it with one made 50-80 years ago to understand this. Modern features are often available now like computer controls in automobiles, but the quality is just not there whether it is automobiles, pianos, shotguns, fly rods or Bibles, the high quality of materials and especially of craftsmanship just isn’t available anymore in sufficient quantities. I recently read an article about quality available in sporting firearms that claimed that not considering the availability of premium materials, that the craftsmen that can complete that final 5% of effort in finishing a product are just not available anymore in significant numbers. What is even more sad is that customers who even know what kind of quality that the final 5% of effort can produce have passed away, and that the current generation probably never will be aware of what top quality fit and finish means unless they are allowed to handle things in museums. Most of the craftsmen who know how to finish to the highest standard in any industry are dead as are the customers who value their work. There are a few exceptions to this situation, but the ability to produce a shotgun, for instance, that is worth $250,000 is almost gone. This situation exists in almost all industries and in the products offered for sale today at any price. It is so sad that even the customers that know the difference between almost great and truly great products are almost all dead as well. We are witnessing the passing of an era in quality consumer goods, indeed in the passing of the demand for them and the ability to produce them. It is a sad situation that I wish I could change but how does one change a whole society’s perception of quality? I have own and treasure irreplaceable things that will never again be produced at that level of quality, I’ve seen friends pick up a highest grade Parker Shotgun and actually weep when they learn that such a product is no longer available, and has not been available for 75 years. Soon the people who even understand what we have lost will be gone as well.
Please come soon Sweet Jesus!
Yours in Christ
Don Denison
Thanks Don. I know what you mean. It seems like quality has gone by the wayside in exchange for fast and cheap. It also seems that Bibles have taken a hard hit in the area of quality. I think that says something about our society as a whole. I’ve seen some of the old guns you’re talking about and it is a shame that they’re not available anymore. The same can be said for guitars and amplifiers. In almost every field quality is now a luxury if it’s available at all.
Dear Randy:
When it is gone completely how do we retrieve it? The culture and its mindset that values excellence will be gone, the values and character that produce the craftsmen capable of the finest work will be gone as well, who will teach those young people what truly beautiful work is, and who will teach those who might buy such products who will be able to identify the love and care that is built in the product, who will even understand what high quality really is?
We of the older generations think about these things in our culture, even proper social manners are disappearing. I expect if I live long enough to see mediocrity replace excellence in our society with no one or very few even knowing that it has even happened. It is happening in every thing we experience and few even recognize what we have lost. We had a way of life that included love for our fellow men and women, a society that prided itself of productivity at its highest quality, compassion and Christian love for our community that made public assistance unnecessary. We as a society replaced it with the current mess we have now. Can we ever get it back? I don’t think so, I hope however I am wrong.
Come Soon Sweet Jesus
Yours in Christ
Don Denison
Mr. Denison, I agree with you completely — and I’m not even that old! (Well, I think that I’m not that old, having been born in the 1950s.) The joy, not unmixed with awe, in possessing and using or even just handling superbly made things is an additional reason to treasure and preserve what has been passed to us through purchase or inheritance, for the making of such things is (or can be) an act of worship of and communion with the ultimate Creator.
P.S. — As the great-grandson of the last master gunsmith at Parker, I appreciate your recognition of the meticulous beauty of even the simplest of their guns.