CBP Thinline Bible Review
Church Bible Publishers has recently released a thinline Bible that matches their Interleaved Bible. It has a wide outer margin, making this the only wide margin thinline KJV that I’m aware of. With a few extra note pages in the front and back, it has plenty of space for short notes and references. It’s available in several covers. In this review, I’ll take a look at the Church Bible Publishers KJV Thinline Bible in brown calfskin, item #330RL C1BR, printed and bound in the USA. I’ll also compare to several other editions from CBP.
Church Bible Publishers 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.
_________________________________________________________
This Bible is available at Church Bible Publishers
_________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
Video Review
Cover and Binding
The cover of my review copy is brown ironed calfskin. It’s smooth and has a touch of grain that gives it some visual texture. It has perimeter stitching and a decorative line etched on the front and back. There is nothing printed on the front. The spine has 5 raised ribs and Holy Bible, King James, and CBP printed in gold. It’s highly flexible, but I can still hold it open with one hand with no trouble. I do find their calfskin is softer than most publishers and tends to scratch easier. It will also temporarily warp in a warm car and show the shape of something sitting on top of it or something it’s sitting on if it’s smaller than the Bible’s footprint. Any warping I’ve seen has always returned to normal.
The liner is edge-lined synthetic and the text-block is sewn. The edge-lined tab is a little stiff, but it does stay open in Genesis. There are several thick end-sheets in the front and back to strengthen it. There is a small amount of cockling, but not enough to matter to me. It’s just enough to notice.
It has two 1/4″ gold ribbons and black and gold head/tail bands. The ribbons are long enough to pull them to the corner to open the Bible with no trouble, and they’re thin enough to not get in the way when reading or preaching. The overall size is 6 3/4 x 9 13/16 x 1″. It weighs 1 lb, 10 oz. This size is great for carrying, holding to read, and using it at a desk or pulpit. The size is also ideal for placing folded pages within the cover for your sermon notes.
Paper
The paper is 22# (33 gsm). This is the same paper that they use in their other Bibles. It’s white in color and it’s opaque enough that it doesn’t have a lot of show-through. It has a slightly rough texture which helps when turning pages. It has a little bit of glare in certain lighting, but it usually wasn’t a problem. This paper is a touch thinner than I’d like for notes and highlighting, but it isn’t bad. It does work well with Pigma Microns and similar pens, and with dry highlighters that are made to work with Bibles. I recommend testing your makers and highlighters on the pages in the back.
It has 16 pages in the back for notes and several thick end-sheets in the front and back that would work great for notes. The edges are a gold-gilt.
Typography
This is a text-only KJV. The KJV text is presented in a double-column verse-by-verse layout with a 1″ outer margin on every page. Both columns of text are separated from each other by a verticle dividing line. The header shows the book name and chapter number in the outer margin. The footer places the page numbers in the center. Like other layouts designed by CBP, this one doesn’t include the page summaries at the top like those found in many KJV’s.
The typeface is a modern font. The sales page shows it to have a 9-point font, but the lower-case letters are small so it looks closer to an 8-point. This is a red-letter edition. Both the black and red are about a medium/dark in darkness and they’re highly consistent throughout. I like the shade of red they chose for this. It’s a dark red that I find easy to read. There are no self-pronouncing marks, but it does include italics for supplied words.
It has around 8-10 words per line and it has a good amount of space between the lines and the words. It has a lot of words on a page. This is helpful for seeing the context, and the large number of words on a page keeps you from having to turn pages often. There is enough white space in the text to keep it from feeling crowded. The whitespace makes it great for preaching if you’re okay with a smaller font. I preached from it several times while wearing my glasses and had no trouble.
The lines match on most pages, meaning that the text is printed in the same location on both sides of the page. I don’t think this is on purpose. Line-matching is an expensive process, and several lines have extra space between the text which would have been removed if the typesetting was this careful and expensive. Still, it does look great and it does improve readability.
The outer margin is 1.125″. This is great for notes. The inner margin is larger enough to keep the text from bending into the gutter. Each book starts on a new page. All of this does provide some space for notes.
Comparisons
Here’s a look at how the CBP compares to several editions from Church Bible Publishers.
CBP Interleaved
The Interleaved edition uses the same pagination. It’s essentially the same Bible, but with interleaved pages, black-letter text, and maps. The two make a great combo. The Thinline is ideal for carrying and preaching, and the Interleaved is great for notes and preaching.
CBP Large Print Text
The Church Bible Publisher’s Large Print Text is another setting of their own design (from the LCBP days). It’s known as the 215 and it’s one of my favorite KJVs. It has the same footprint as the Thinline, but it’s twice the thickness. It’s also a text-only edition and uses the same font, but different pagination. The paper in the 215 has more show-through, but this could be due to more ink on the page. It adds a concordance and maps. A larger version with wide outer margins is also available.
Conclusion
The Church Bible Publishers’ KJV Thinline Bible is an excellent Bible for carry. The text is small, but it’s also sharp and readable. This is the only wide margin thinline that I’m aware of. Like all Bibles from Church Bible Publishers, this Bible is made well and the materials exceed its price-point. CBP’s Thilnine makes a great combo with their Interleaved Bible. If you need a good quality thin KJV, the CBP KJV Thinline Bible is a great choice.
_________________________________________________________
This Bible is available at Church Bible Publishers
_________________________________________________________
Church Bible Publishers 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.
Are there any other translations of this Bible?
No. They only print KJV.