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Inexpensive
Excellence
Crossway's
"Portfolio" Thinline ESV Bible
 I'm
not a purist. As much as I appreciate tradition, I don't think it's
worth perpetuating just because it's tradition. If I love
well-bound leather bound Bibles, it has very little to do with nostalgia
for the "good old days." I love them because they are
things of beauty, because they aremore functional than their poorly-bound
cousins, and because anything worth doing is worth doing well. A
Bible doesn't have to be expensive to be made well, and it doesn't
have to be bound in leather, either.
 No
one despises the morbid particleboard substance known as "bonded
leather" more than I do. Before you settle for a bonded leather
Bible, you would be better off choosing a hardback. Bonded leather
is stiff. It curls (or bends) at the corners. It feels terrible
to the touch. After long, hard use, some bonded leather covers will
soften, just as some bad bindings will lay flat if you force them
to. But why bother? If you want a leather-bound Bible, spend the
extra money and get one. Accept no imitation.
Something
interesting has been happening in Bible publishing, though. A new
generation of leather alternatives have been introduced, and they
seem to hold a lot of promise. The first I encountered them was
in the binding of one of Tyndale's inexpensive NLT editions. "Feel
this," I said to my bookstore manager friend, who's as picky
about Bible binding as I am. The cover was soft and flexible. It
felt a little tacky to the touch, but in an interesting way. Although
it only cost about $20, the little volume had a lot of the "liquidity"
you would expect from a much better Bible. Every time I visited
the store, I ended up in the same section, handling the new "pleather"
Bibles.
A
few years have passed, and now the new imitation leather bindings
have gotten quite good. There is an amazingly compact NIV Study Bible -- no larger than a hand-sized Bible -- bound in attractive
two-toned imitation leather that seems like a steal for the price.
As much as I needle Crossway to introduce the editions of the English
Standard Version that I'd like to see, they've been quite active
in turning out what they call TruTone editions -- standard Thinline
and Compact settings bound in imitation leather. I haven't taken
much of an interest in these because they're typically youth-oriented,
featuring Celtic crosses, crowns of thorns and other decorative
motifs. I don't wear t-shirts with logos, and I don't want artwork
on my Bible cover. But over the summer, I had a chance to visit
Crossway and see some of the (then) upcoming editions. That's where
I discovered the Portfolio Thinline.
 A
finished prototype was sitting on the desk of Dallas Richards, Director
of Production Services, and I couldn't stop picking it up. Considering
how closely Richards' office resembles an Alladin's Cave of Bible
design, that's really saying something. Unlike the other TruTone
Thinlines, the Portfolio was free of embellishment. It's bound in
an attractive two-toned brown with simulated grain. (The grain,
by the way, is not visible in Crossway's promotional
photo, and for good reason: if you enlarge the photo to its
full size, it doesn't appear to be a photo at all.) It is also quite
flexible. In fact, the more I handled it, the more it seemed to
me like a Poor Man's Cordovan Thinline.
And
that's a good thing. As much as I like finely bound Bibles, they
cost a pretty penny. I have a hard time exposing them to the neglect
and damage of everyday use. That's why the Bible I keep in my car
isn't bound in classy goatskin; it's a bonded leather ESV Compact
in British Tan that once drank a cup a coffee with cream. I let
it dry, unstuck the pages, and now it does duty as a "beater."
Anything happens to it, I won't shed a tear. I couldn't say the
same for some of the other Bibles I've profiled on this site. Well,
the problem with this approach is that the Bibles I stuff into book
bags and drag around on a daily basis tend not to have all the pleasant
attributes I've been railing about. This increases my frustration
with modern binding and makes Mark a tedious, one-trick pony. The
thought of having an inexpensive, soft, pliable, liquid Portfolio
Thinline was enough to have me contemplating theft! Could I somehow
manage to place the prototype into my stack of books and leave Richards'
office with it? "I know it's wrong, Lord," I whined, "but
what else can I do?"
I
could wait, and that's what I did. As soon as the Portfolio Thinline
was available, I ordered a copy, and now I've been using it on a
daily basis for about a week. Naturally, the Portfolio doesn't hold
a candle to the Cordovan Thinline. The paper isn't as nice. The
cover doesn't feel as good in the hand. But for what you pay --
$29.99 retail, and just $19.79
at Amazon --
the value is remarkable. First off, the TruTone cover looks quite
nice. I've included a photo of the cover here so you can see (1)
the grain and (2) the actual colors, which are two shades of brown,
and not the pinkish shade you'll see in the mock-up photo at Crossway
and Amazon. A second picture illustrates that the Portfolio Thinline
lies flat. If you pay $100 for a Bible, then it would be unforgiveable
if it didn't -- still, many expensive Bibles won't -- but when you
pay less than $20, let's face it: your expectations are low. The
Portfolio delivers, and that makes it a very pleasant Bible to hold
in the hand while reading.
The
Portfolio Thinline isn't perfect. The cover on mine has a slight
tendency to turn up at the bottom edges. Like all of Crossway's
Thinlines -- including the Cordovan -- the binding is not sewn.
But these things don't detract from my overall impression because,
for what it is, the Portfolio is excellent.
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