The Thomas Nelson KJV Giant Print Thinline is now available in the Premier Collection and it has several improvements over the original. This Bible is a text edition with section headings that includes the 12-point Comfort Print font designed by 2K/Denmark specifically for Thomas Nelson’s KJV’s. It adds premium paper and a goatskin cover to create a great reading and preaching Bible that will last for many years. This is ISBN 9780785239345, printed in China with premium materials from around the world.
Thomas Nelson 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 book is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
_________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
Video Review
Cover and Binding
The cover is black goatskin leather. It has a nice grain and it’s soft to the touch. It has perimeter stitching and a small yapp. The front has no writing, while the spine has the text and logo printed in gold along with 5 raised hubs. It’s floppy, which is more noticeable because of the larger footprint and thin spine.
The liner is edge-lined leather. It has a gold gilt line around the perimeter of the liner. The text block is Smyth sewn. The edge-lined tab is stiff out of the box. This leaves a noticeable hump in Genesis until it breaks in well enough for the tab to relax. I’m sure this will break in with more use. It didn’t cause any issues. The first signature has overcast stitching to give it strength.
The pages lay flat, so there’s nothing lost in the gutter. It has 3 3/8″ ribbons: 2 black and one red. They’re extra long and are easy to use. The overall size is 7 1/2 x 10 7/8 x 1 1/25″ and it weighs 2 lbs, 14.7 oz. Due to how thin it is and how little it weighs it doesn’t feel like an overly large Bible, but the floppiness of the goatskin with this size is a little large for carrying. It’s great for study, reading, and preaching.
Paper
The paper is 36 gsm premium European Bible paper. This is the same paper that’s used in all of the Premier Collection Bibles. It’s slightly off-white and it’s extremely opaque. It has a smooth texture that looks and feels elegant. The pages are easy to turn and it’s excellent for reading. The page edges are red under gold art-gilt.
Typography
The text is in a double-column verse-by-verse format with no other formatting for poetry or letters. The header shows the page number in the center and the book, chapter, and verse in the outer margin. Verses are indented, so they’re easy to find. The drop-cap is the chapter number. Section headings are in all-caps. All highlights are in black. I think red highlights (like the Giant Print Reference in the Premier Collection) would have made it look a little more elegant, but the black does look great.
It has a 12-point Comfort Print font designed by 2K/Denmark for the Thomas Nelson KJV’s. This is a red-letter edition. Both the black and the red are dark and highly consistent. It reduces show-through with line-matching, so the lines of text are printed in the same location on both sides of the page.
The text has around 8 words per line with a good amount of space between the lines. This keeps the text from feeling crowded. It also has a wide inner margin that helps bring the text out of the gutter. I find the text easy to read and preach from.
Reading Plan
In the back is a 365-day reading plan. Each month has a date with a morning and evening reading with the morning reading from the New Testament, and the evening reading is from the Old Testament. It starts you with Matthew and Genesis and takes you through the Bible once in one year.
Maps
In the back is 8 pages of full-color maps. They’re printed on thick glossy pages with bright colors that look great. They include topography, distance, routes, borders, possible locations of lost places, battles, elevation, cities, and locations for the events of Jesus’ ministry. It doesn’t have an index to maps, but the maps are annotated well. I found them easy to use.
Maps include:
- World of the Patriarchs
- Exodus and Conquest of Canaan
- Land of the Twelve Tribes
- Kingdom of David and Solomon
- Jesus’ Ministry
- Paul’s Missionary Journeys
- Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus
Comparisons
Here’s how the Premier Collection KJV Giant Print Thinline Bible compares with the lower-quality version of the same Bible and the other KJV in the Premier Collection.
Thomas Nelson Giant Print Thinline
The Thomas Nelson Giant Print Thinline is the same Bible with lower-quality materials and slightly lighter print. It includes an imitation leather cover and 30 gsm paper. It’s still an excellent Bible for its price. The cover stays open flat to any page out of the box. The print isn’t as dark as the Premier Collection edition. I highly recommend it for preaching and reading. It’s a great choice to try the giant print to see how you like it before investing in the Premier Collection version or if you want the same design at a lower cost.
Thomas Nelson Giant Print KJV Premier Collection
The Thomas Nelson Giant Print KJV Premier Collection is the only other Premier Collection KJV. The materials are the same, but it’s available in black without hubs and overcast stitching or brown with hubs and overcast stitching. It has a thicker text-block and a smaller footprint. This a reference edition with translation footnotes, a glossary in the notes, book summaries, no section headings, red highlights, a concordance, and maps. The font is slightly smaller. I consider this to be one of the best reference KJV’s available. Both are great for reading and preaching.
Conclusion
The Premier Collection KJV Giant Print Thinline Bible is excellent for reading and preaching. The materials and design do look and feel to be of high quality and should last for many years of daily use. The floppiness of the cover can be a little unwieldy to carry or hold open with one hand. It’s especially good for laying on a table, desk, or pulpit. If you’re interested in a giant print text KJV in premium quality, the Premier Collection KJV Giant Print Thinline Bible from Thomas Nelson is a fine choice.
_________________________________________________________
This book is available at (includes some affiliate links)
and many local Bible bookstores
_________________________________________________________
Thomas Nelson 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.
Randy, I have been using the TN KJV Preachers Bible and have really liked it. I picked up one of these and agree it is a bit large and floppy and especially hard to hold. I also picked up the Premier Giant Print Center Column Reference. I am torn on which of the Premiers to keep. I like them both but sort of feel that the Center Column Reference is not as necessary if I have the references in the Preachers bible and the thinline is a good one to hold on to as a thinline. I too wish they made a large print in the same footprint as the NKJV. Thoughts? Suggestions? If you were going to keep 2 of those 3 which would it be? Thanks for the input and I love your videos.
Thanks Scott! Choosing between them really depends on the goals of how I’d use them. I can’t really give a definite answer (making choices isn’t a skill I have lol), but here are my thoughts on them:
The Giant Print Reference has the advantage of having book summaries, a concordance, and maps, and the text is free of section headings. I find the references and footnotes much easier to find than the Preaching Bible. The disadvantage is that it has far fewer references than the Preaching Bible. I sometimes find it’s reference keys in the text a distraction. If I didn’t use the references that much, then I’d keep this one.
The Preaching Bible is great for preaching, and it’s references and footnotes are excellent for study. I love the size. It has more references, but they’re harder to find. Without a concordance or maps, it’s not a complete reference edition, but these tools aren’t used that much anyway. I’d keep this one if you don’t mind the reference and footnote keys in the text, you don’t need the concordance or maps, and you don’t need a larger print.
The Thinline has the cleanest text by far and is great for preaching. I’d keep this one if you want the largest and cleanest text.
With this in mind and considering that I don’t need a giant print for preaching, I’d keep the Preaching Bible for sure. If I could only have one, it would be the one I’d choose. Then, I’d choose between the other two based on whether or not I wanted a reference edition or a cleaner text. I think my choice would change every day between those two. Even while writing this, I changed my choice between them several times. I might end up going with the one that’s easier to handle. That would be the Giant Print Reference.