Journaling Bible (ESV) - Coming This Fall

Posted by J. Mark Bertrand
on Wednesday, April 26, 2006
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Last summer, I visited Crossway and had a very encouraging discussion with Executive Vice President Geoffrey Dennis and Director of Production Services Dallas Richard, which I blogged about here: "Publishers Weekly." What I didn't mention at the time, though, was one of the main topics of conversation. I was pitching them on a new format for the English Standard Version translation. The concept was simple: take a New Testament and put it inside the covers of a Moleskine notebook, resulting in a black, hardback NT with an elastic band to close it. Well, some time passed and I heard nothing, and then yesterday I was informed that our conversation had borne some fruit in the form of Crossway's new Journaling Bible.

The Journaling Bible actually fulfills two goals of mine by merging the Moleskine NT concept with the need for a wide margin ESV. If you remember my notes on the ideal ESV format, you know what I like: "single-column; wide margins (and generous inner margins so no text curves into the gutter), references on the inner edge (or maybe the outer); verse numbers in gray, thin text instead of bold, black; black-letter." Based on the mock-up posted on the ESV blog, The Journaling Bible has double column text and no references, but it does have wide margins ("nearly 2 inches of ruled writing space") and black letter text -- plus it comes in a black hardback edition with an elastic strap, a la Moleskine. And instead of just the NT, it includes the whole Bible.

At first, I wasn't sure about the ruled margins. How would that work aesthetically, and would it be practical? But when I clicked on the enlarged image, my doubts vanished. The format looks clean and useable. If I'd had subtle, narrow rules like this in my other wide-margin Bibles, my notes would have been more legible!

The Journaling Bible won't be available until this fall, when it will debut in both "original" and calfskin bindings. Based on the pictures, they both look great. I'll try to obtain copies and review them here as soon as possible. Based on what I've seen already, though, I think the Journaling Bible is going to be a must-have for readers of the ESV. In fact, I predict this format will encourage some of the hold-outs to give it a try. This isn't just another me-too, trend-copying format. As far as I know, no one else has put out anything like it. What can I say? I'm thrilled.