The Tyndale Select in Black Calfskin

The New Living Translation is one that has been growing on me. It’s highly readable and definitely can be useful among the popular translations. As I’ve come to enjoy it more, I really wanted to get my hands on a premium copy to check out and review. I’m excited to finally have the opportunity to bring you a review of the Tyndale Select. This, I believe, is the nicest copy of the NLT that Tyndale produces. It is also quite expensive! Does this Bible justify the price tag? Let’s talk about it!

I’m reviewing the black calfskin version of this Bible. It comes in a nice black and gold clam shell box that is quite attractive. At the time of this writing, Tyndale is asking $190 for this Bible on their website. You can get it on christianbook.com for $149.99.

Outer Materials

Taking this Bible out of the box, I’m immediately struck by the feeling of the smooth calfskin. It’s soft to the touch and is a pleasure to hold. It also has a really nice grain. The spine is flat with gold lettering. It says, “TYNDALE”, “HOLY BIBLE”, and “NEW LIVING TRANSLATION” all in the upper half of the spine.

The Bible has a gold gilt on the page edges. I’m going to be blatantly honest here. For the price that is being asked, the gilt should be nicer. It is a straight gold gilt that you would probably expect to find on much cheaper Bibles. They would have done well to do a red under gold on the page edges to give it a little more pop.

The Bible has two ribbons that are fabric and the edges of mine are fraying out of the box. I honestly don’t understand this choice given the price of this Bible. There is no reason a Bible like this should have fabric ribbons. This is supposed to be the mack daddy of all the NLT’s Tyndale produces and it has fabric ribbons! I just can’t understand the design choice here. The Bible is Smyth-sewn and lays flat out of the box.

Inner Materials

Inside there is a black, vinyl paste-down liner. This makes the Bible nice and flexible. The Bible begins with a presentation page as well as family records pages on matte card stock. This Bible is printed and bound in the Netherlands so it has the high quality of Jongbloed binding associated with it.

The paper is a 28 gsm and a cream color. The text is line matched, but has noticeable ghosting especially in the poetry sections. I’ve seen worse ghosting in other Bibles, but if ghosting bothers you, it probably would bother you in this Bible.

Page Layout and Text

I think where this Bible really shines is the page layout. It is a single column with references in the outer margin. There are over 40,000 references in this Bible. Footnotes are at the bottom of the page. The font is a nice 8.75 point and is very readable. The text is also line-matched with words of Christ in black. Honestly, I think this is a great block if you’re a single column fan!

Extras

There is a very generous concordance in the back as well as several colored paper maps. I’m not a fan of maps, but if a Bible does have maps then I like how Tyndale did it here.

Conclusion

Tyndale has produced a really nice Bible in the Select, but I’m sad to say that I think it’s really overpriced. I’d recommend Tyndale sell this Bible at possibly the $80-$90 range or make some significant upgrades to justify the current asking price of this Bible. However, it truly is the nicest NLT they produce.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this Bible from Tyndale in exchange for a fair and honest review.