Call
me crazy, but I have a thing for red. It's the new black. In fact,
as much as I love black, I wish everything that came in black also
came in a nice, bright red. Imagine how cool a
red Moleskine notebook would be. Well, a red Bible is cool,
too. And what's more, it's a classic, albeit an all too rare one.
This isn't a diatribe on how all Bibles should be red; it isn't
a screed against narrow-minded publishers who can't bring themselves
to do the right thing and produce red leather bindings. Instead,
it's a tribute, an homage to one of my favorites. In the photograph
here, I've assembled a stack of red Bibles (with a Book of Common
Prayer thrown in for good measure). Let's take a look.
Starting
from the bottom and working our way up: first, we have a nice Cambridge
large-print KJV bound in top grain cowhide. I picked this one up
in the late nineties at a Dublin cathedral. For my taste, there's
a little too much purple in the red -- veering toward the dreaded
"burgundy" -- but the cover is flexible and the type easy
to read (if a little old fashioned). On top of that one, we have
a smaller Cambridge KJV Cameo reference edition bound in French
Morocco. As you can see from the photograph, this Bible sports an
unusual finish, as if it couldn't make up its mind to between black
and red -- or like a red Bible that fell off the back of the truck
and got a good, even coat of tar for its trouble. I don't see them
around as much anymore, but it used to be possible to find curious
oddities like this by searching through a stack of Cambridge Bibles
at the bookseller.
The
third in the stack is a fine example of Cambridge's excellent NIV
Pocket Reference Bible, a beautiful, hand-sized edition with center-column
references and a very readable two-column text setting. Unfortunately,
this wonderful shade of red was only available in a Cabra bonded
leather binding. I'd rather have the real thing, but actually this
bonded leather is more flexible than some of the stiff, sharp-edged
genuine leather covers on the market now. To match it, I picked
up a copy of Oxford's 1979 Book of Common Prayer in bonded leather.
As you can see in the next picture, which features the NIV on bottom,
the BCP, and then the Cambridge REB New Testament (more about that
in a moment), both bonded leather books open flat, as they should.
These are actually the best examples of red bindings in my collection,
but it took a little hunting to find them. Ordinarily, I would not
recommend purchasing any bonded leather product without inspecting
it in advance. This is not something you want to do sight-unseen
online.
As
much as I like Cambridge, I have to admit that Oxford got something
right that Cambridge didn't manage. As you can see, all of the Cambridge
editions sport red ribbons. The Oxford BCP has bright gold gilt
on the page edges and three exquisitely thick golden ribbons. The
contrast is attractive to the eye.
Finally,
as I mentioned, at the very top of the stack Cambridge's Revised
English Bible New Testament bound in calfskin. This is a paragraphed,
single column text designed for comfortable reading. Like most single
column settings on the market right now, the columns are a bit too
wide -- as you can see from the photo, the text creeps ever so slightly
into the inside gutter. If the NT would lay just a bitter flatter
this wouldn't be an issue -- over time I imagine it will.
What
is it about a bright red Bible that I like so much? Traditional
black can be boring, though it can also be elegant and restrained.
Red, though, has the power to be something I'm not sure black ever
manages. Red, done right, can be splendid.
Call
me crazy, but I have a thing for red. It's the new black. In fact,
as much as I love black, I wish everything that came in black also
came in a nice, bright red. Imagine how cool 
The
third in the stack is a fine example of Cambridge's excellent NIV
Pocket Reference Bible, a beautiful, hand-sized edition with center-column
references and a very readable two-column text setting. Unfortunately,
this wonderful shade of red was only available in a Cabra bonded
leather binding. I'd rather have the real thing, but actually this
bonded leather is more flexible than some of the stiff, sharp-edged
genuine leather covers on the market now. To match it, I picked
up a copy of Oxford's 1979 Book of Common Prayer in bonded leather.
As you can see in the next picture, which features the NIV on bottom,
the BCP, and then the Cambridge REB New Testament (more about that
in a moment), both bonded leather books open flat, as they should.
These are actually the best examples of red bindings in my collection,
but it took a little hunting to find them. Ordinarily, I would not
recommend purchasing any bonded leather product without inspecting
it in advance. This is not something you want to do sight-unseen
online.
As
much as I like Cambridge, I have to admit that Oxford got something
right that Cambridge didn't manage. As you can see, all of the Cambridge
editions sport red ribbons. The Oxford BCP has bright gold gilt
on the page edges and three exquisitely thick golden ribbons. The
contrast is attractive to the eye.