Inspire Bible: Large Print Edition Review

Tyndale recently released the Inspire Bible Large Print Edition. This is the upsized version of the regular Inspire Bible (see a review here).

Journaling Bibles are very popular but there aren’t very many large print ones. This is the only large print I know of that includes the line art for you to color.

BINDING

This Bible comes in a patterned slipcase but the Bible itself it solid tranquil blue. It has a LeatherLike hardcover Binding. The page edges are decorated with a lovely butterfly and flower design in muted colors. It also has a matching ribbon bookmark and an attached elastic strap for closing it tightly.

The overall size of this Bible is 10 1/8″ x 7 7/8″ x almost 2″. It weighs 3 pounds and 13 ounces, 1 pound and 6 ounces more than the regular size hardcover.

The liner is thick paper with different illustrations inside the front and back covers.

PAPER

This has the slightly creamy, close to 38gsm, paper that has become somewhat standard in journaling Bibles.

Pencils or any pens and art supplies labeled Bible safe or Bible friendly will usually work well with this paper. If you’ve used a journaling Bible before you probably have some ideas about the best pens or what art mediums work well. If you’re new to art journaling keep in mind that some art supplies, like watercolors, have a few tricks you need to learn to make them perform their best.

When trying to figure out which art products will work keep in mind in general the wetter, more likely to spread or bleed a product is the less likely it is suitable for even journaling Bibles without gesso underneath (watercolors being an exception as long as you dry them frequently). If you are unsure your best options are to experiment (on the few blank pages or index), ask someone you know that art journals (or attend a workshop), or do a little research online (including this website). I will have a post about various art mediums in this Bible coming in a few days. You could also check out the post for the regular Inspire Bible or the My Creative Bible since they all have the same paper.

TYPOGRAPHY

The text is a 10.8 font, noticeably larger than then the text in smaller journaling Bibles.

The margin is 2 1/2″ by 9 3/4″ with 36 light lines spaced a full 1/4 inch apart. (The way the poetry is set makes  even more drawing or writing room.)

The text is all black letter and set in single column format. Section headings are in bold and stand out enough to be useful. Poetry is set in stanzas and quotes and letters are indented. The header has the book name, chapter, and verse in the center and page numbers in the outside corners.

FOOTNOTES

Footnotes show textual variants, historical and cultural information, alternate renderings, meanings of names, where quotes are citing and cited from, etc.
The only indication of a footnote within the text is an asterisk, which is much less distracting than letters and numbers to most people. Each footnote is clearly labeled with chapter and verse numbers so the system isn’t confusing once you know how it works.

ARTWORK

Artwork is where this style of Bible stands out. Since the publisher has already drawn in them these Bibles were obviously made to be drawn and written in. That can help a lot of people overcome doubts and fears and start journaling their reactions to God in either words or pictures for themselves. The predrawn artwork is also useful for those of us who already journal. It’s a place to start studying, an idea for how to turn thoughts into words and pictures, or a picture to work on when we lack inspiration or time.

This Bible has over 400 line drawn illustrations. These are the exact same illustrations found in the regular size Inspire just scaled up to fit the larger page.

The various type of artwork include

Book titles, combinations of lettering and artwork,

lettered verses,

word art,

and more detailed drawings.

Most of the artwork fits in the margins and headers but there are a few full page drawings.

USING THE LARGE PRINT EDITION

The size of this Bible is either it’s best or worst feature depending on your point of view.

I carried it to church a few times but it is much larger than what I’m used to. I usually laid this in the pew next to me while using it in church since it seemed a little heavy for holding in my hands (though I’m sure I could get used to it). When reading it at home it was more comfortable to lay it on the table to read from then hold while reading for any length of time. Either place the pages were easy to turn and the text very easy to read.

By contrast when at home journaling the size of it was very useful. The illustrations being larger means your don’t have to use as fine point art products and you have more room for shading. When you are doing your own journaling there is SO much more room for writing and drawing.

Here’s an example of being able to fit more into the margin. When I did this in my regular Inspire I was only able to fit one line of the verse without crowding. Using the same size stickers I was able to fit two lines in the large print and even have room for more embellishments.

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE VERSES

There is an index of all the illustrations in the back of the Bible. It’s divided by book and gives chapter and verse and page number. A list of all the word art and page numbers is also included. This is very handy for finding a verse to color or seeing if your favorite verses have already been illustrated.

CONCLUSION

I love having more space for my artwork but personally prefer a smaller Bible for carrying and using at church. I will be using this at home for longer verses and larger artwork and possibly for verse that I want to both illustrate and write about.

This is a great addition to the growing collection of journaling Bibles available. If you’ve been looking for a illustrated journaling Bible but want (or need) the larger font or want more room to write or draw and don’t mind the extra bulk (which won’t be a problem at all if you’re using it on a table) The Inspire Bible Large Print Edition will be a good choice for you.

What do you think? Do you need (or want) this larger font? Is the extra room to journal in worth the extra bulk to you? Would you like to see more large print Bibles made especially for art journaling? Let me know in the comments.

Photography by hannah C brown.

Tyndale provided this Bible free for review.  I was not required to give a positive review only an honest one.