ESV Thinline Bible in Buffalo Leather

The thinline is one of the most popular types of Bibles available. Practically every translation has a thinline edition and they’re available in many price ranges. Crossway’s ESV Thinline is as popular as any, and it’s available in many cover options including buffalo leather. In this review, I’ll take a look at buffalo leather edition, ISBN: 9781433570865, made 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)

Amazon

Christian Book

and many local Bible bookstores

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Table of Contents

1. Video Review
2. Cover and Binding
3. Paper
4. Typography
5. References
6. Concordance
7. Maps
8. Comparisons
9. Conclusion

Video Review

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Cover and Binding

The cover is deep brown buffalo leather. It has a tight pebbly grain that that reminds me of the surface of a football. There is no writing on the front. It has perimeter stitching with brown thread. The spine includes four raised spine ribs. The text and the Crossway logo are stamped in gold. I love the look and feel of the leather. It’s much better than their genuine leather.

The liner is paste-down in a brown vinyl and the block is Smyth sewn. The binding is stiff out of the box, so it will take some use to get it to stay open in Genesis.

It has one brown 1/4″ ribbon and brown head/tail bands. The ribbon is long enough to pull to the corner to open the page. The overall size is 8 7/8 x 5 5/8 x 1″ and it weighs 1lb, 5.9oz. This is an excellent size and weight for a carry and reading Bible. The thinline is one of my favorite sizes for a Bible.

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Paper

The paper is around 30gsm. It’s the same paper used in their lower-cost editions. It’s white in color and it’s highly opaque. It has no glare under direct light. The texture is slightly rough, so the pages are easy enough to separate to turn. The show-through is mostly noticeable in poetic settings. Page edges are gold gilt.

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Typography

The text is presented in a double-column paragraph layout. Poetry is set to stanzas. Section headings are in italics. The header includes the book name, chapter number, and verse number in the outer margin, and page number in the center. Translation footnotes are placed in the footer and are keyed to the text with numbers.

The typeface is 8-point. The text is sharp. This is a red-letter text. Both are about medium in darkness and they’re highly consistent throughout. It has around 9 words per line and has a good amount of space between the lines to make it comfortable to read. It doesn’t include line line-matching. This is most noticeable in poetic settings. It has enough space in the inner margin to keep the text from bending too far into the gutter.

The poetic settings look good, but they’re not always divided in the most ideal places. Instead of breaking poetry into phrases, it goes to the end of the line and the rest is indented under it. This causes many poetic lines to have a single word or syllable (which I find distracting).

Verse numbers are small, but they’re bolder than the rest of the text which helps make them easier to find. They don’t stand out a lot, but I had no issues finding them quickly enough. Footnotes are small. They’re keyed to the text with numbers. I found the keys easy enough to ignore so I could read without distractions.

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Concordance

The concordance is 58 pages with 3 columns per page. It’s not a large concordance but it does have enough references for basic sermon prep and study. I prefer this to adding to the thickness of this Bible with a larger concordance. Here are some sample entries and the number of references given:

• Christ – 16
• Christ’s – 4
• Christian – 2
• Faith – 31
• Faithful – 11
• Faithfulness – 7
• Faithless – 1
• God – 52
• Godliness – 5
• Godly – 3
• Gods – 2
• Praise – 21
• Praised – 4
• Praises – 3
• Praising – 4
• Pray – 10
• Prayed – 3
• Prayer – 11
• Prayers – 6
• Praying – 3

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Maps

It has 8 full-color maps printed on thick pages. The maps are printed in earth-tones and they have a clean design that I find appealing. It doesn’t have an index to maps, but they are labeled well and I find them easy to use. They include distance, topography, borders, routes, rivers, kingdoms, etc.

Maps include:

1. The World of the Patriarchs
2. The Exodus from Egypt
3. The Twelve Tribes of Israel
4. Israel Under Saul, David, and Solomon
5. Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus
6. Palestine in the Time of Jesus
7. Paul’s First and Second Missionary Journeys
8. Paul’s Third Missionary Journey and His Voyage to Rome

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Comparison

Here’s how the ESV Thinline in buffalo leather compares to the older Heirloom edition and the Pew Bible. Both have different materials but use the same layout. I didn’t compare here, but it’s also the same pagination as the ESV Pulpit Bible. This means you can have the same pagination with different price-ranges, so everyone in your family or Church can use the same Bible regardless of their budget. The buffalo thinline is on the left in these photos.

Crossway Heirloom Thinline

The ESV Heirloom Thinline has the same pagination, but it has 28gsm Indopaque paper from France and a goatskin cover. It was made in the Netherlands by Royal Jongbloed. The paper has less show-through and it’s a more elegant Bible.

Crossway Pew Bible

The Crossway ESV Pew Bible also has the same pagination as the thinline. It’s a lower-cost Bible, but it doesn’t feel like a cheap Bible. The paper is thicker and it has a smoother texture. The opacity is about the same, but it could be slightly more opaque. It’s an excellent choice for Churches and ministries, for carry, etc., when you don’t want to carry a more expensive Bible.

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Conclusion

Crossway’s ESV Thinline in buffalo leather is a good standard Bible. I very much prefer buffalo leather to genuine leather. It’s quickly becoming one of my favorite leathers for a Bible. The block itself is the same as the imitation leather editions. The paper isn’t high-quality, but it is functional. Show-through is noticeable, but I didn’t find it distracting. If you’re looking for a good quality ESV Thinline, I highly recommend getting it in buffalo leather.

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_________________________________________________________

This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)

Amazon

Christian Book

and many local Bible bookstores

_________________________________________________________

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.