The Artist Series of ESV Journaling Bibles has beautifully done artistic covers added to Crossway’s popular single-column journaling Bibles. Randy reviewed the basic edition of this Bible back in 2012
ISBN:9781433572715 Printed in China
Crossway 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 Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
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Table of Contents
Artist Series
Crossway has gotten several different artists to design covers for their single-column journaling Bible. These Artist Series Bibles include a card with a picture of the artist on one side and a note about the artwork from the artist on the other.
The edition we were sent is the “In Bloom” cover by Lulie Wallace. It has various types and colors of flowers on a cream background. The artist wanted to create a timeless book cover with a soft palette, in keeping with the beauty and timelessness of God’s word.
Other covers in the ESV Artist Series of journaling Bible include:
- “Be Transformed” by Ruth Chou Simons
- “The Lion and The Lamb” by Joshua Noom
- “Dwelling Place” by Jake Weidmann
- “Garden” by Jess Phoenix
- “Sanctus” by Peter Voth
I love that the covers are so different, that means there is one that will appeal to almost everyone. You could choose your favorite or the one you think would be the favorite if it’s a gift. Or you could choose the cover that most closely matches the subject of the notes, Bible study, or journaling project you would be putting in it.
Construction and Materials
The edition we have is a cloth over board cover with solid gray on the spine and the artist’s flowers on both the front and back cover. It has a sewn binding, one attached gray ribbon marker, and printed paper end-pages.
The Bible measures 8 1/4″ x 6 1/2″ x 1 3/4″ and weighs about 2 pounds, 5 ounces.
It has cream-colored paper that we are guessing is in the upper 30s gsm. It is not dark paper but does have a noticeable yellow tint.
Typography and Layout
The ESV artist series journaling Bible has a 7.5 point font. A little over 6 lines of text fits in the height of a penny. The font is bold which makes it easier to read but does make the show-through more noticeable. It is all black-letter text and the ink darkness is consistent.
The text is laid out in single-column paragraph format. Quotes are offset and poetry is set up in stanzas.
It has a 2-inch wide outer margin with several light lines. The guide verse is in the header centered over the outer margin. Page numbers are located in the footer centered under the outer margin.
The only footnotes are translation notes.
This is primarily a Bible for journaling or note-taking and does not have many features besides the wide margin. The only extras are a table of weights and measures and a 1-year reading plan that are located in the back.
The reading plan is a 3 reading a day plan that will have you read the entire Bible once and Psalms and the New Testament twice in a year. It could easily be converted to a 2 reading a day once through the entire Bible plan. Since you start Psalms and Matthew on the same day both times just read only Psalms or the New Testament the first half of the year and only the other one the second half.
Final Thoughts on the ESV Artist Series Journaling Bible
The ESV Artist Series Journaling Bible is a nice basic journaling Bible with a beautiful cover. The wide variety of artistic covers available means that most people who want a Bible for journaling or note-taking without a basic black or brown cover will be able to find one they like. The beautiful covers will also make it easy to tell your journaling Bibles apart if you have more than one for different topics or years.
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This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
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Photography by Lucinda Brown, photos of other covers provided by Crossway
Crossway 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.
Thank you for this review, Lucinda. I can see the value of this size of journalising Bible if one has only a few notes to make and/or if one wishes to enter a reference to consult one’s bigger note book. But, a separate note book is surely preferable? This is where loose leaf and interleaved Bibles score, in my view; but we can’t get them — I wonder why?
Separate notebooks are great for some people, while others much prefer to take notes in their Bible. I’m glad we have so many different Bibles available to match different preferences.
There is a new NKJV interleaved Bible. Randy will be reviewing it later this week. They don’t make a lot of loose leaf or interleaved Bibles because there is only a small group of people willing to pay for all that extra writing space in their Bibles. Especially since you either have to have small print, thinner paper, or end up with a very large Bible to give them all that writing space.