The Zondervan NASB Classic Reference Bible in Brown Buffalo

Zondervan keeps knocking it out of the park with their newly released Bibles. The NASB ‘95 Classic Reference Bible is no exception. This is a beautiful Bible with some unique features. It’s one of those Bibles that is not quite Premier Collection, but is pretty stinkin’ close! What I love about that is that it means that it has a premium feel with a less-than-premium price tag! Let’s check it out.

This Bible comes in a brown clamshell box. When you take the Bible out, you’ll immediately be struck by the grain of the buffalo leather. This grain is beautiful. The leather itself is soft and supple and the Bible has a really nice flex to it. While the leather is soft, the buffalo just puts me in mind of durability. This feels like a Bible that’s built to take abuse should you want to put it through it.

The spine has five hubs and in gold says, “HOLY BIBLE”, “NASB”, and “ZONDERVAN”. The page edges have a nice red under gold art-gilt that once again gives that premium feel. It’s built well being Smyth-sewn and edge-lined. There are also two beautiful double-sided satin bookmarks that are nice and long. One is brown and the other is gold.

Inside is a dark brown vinyl liner that feels stout! It seems thick, but that’s probably a good thing. There’s a gold perimeter gilt line, which is also a nice touch.

The paper is cheaper. It’s a 30 gsm and even sounds cheaper if I’m honest. Believe it or not, cheap paper does have a sound! However, I find ghosting to be minimal. The text is line-matched, which greatly helps.

The layout is a double column with center column references and textual notes. There are over 17,000 translator notes in this edition, which is really nice. I find it really interesting they’re in the center column, but it’s different and I like that. Also different is that this Bible has 14 in-text charts and maps meaning that you will see a chart or map within the body of the text rather than it being at the back. There are also some full color maps in the back if that’s your thing.

The font is a 9.5 in the Zondervan NASB Comfort Print typeface, which I really like. The center column references and notes are much smaller, but they are readable. Words of Christ are in red, which isn’t my preference, but Zondervan does do red letter better than most. The major grip with this Bible is that when it is open, the text sinks into the gutter badly. This does not make for a pleasant reading experience and causes the reader to have to shift the angle of their head when changing pages. This unfortunately keeps this Bible from really being great. The back has the NASB comprehensive concordance.

Wrapping up, this is a really nice offering from Zondervan. The gutter may break in, but currently it’s an issue. If this was corrected then this would be a really great value for the quality that you get. The Bible has some great study features and is a great size to take with you wherever you go. If you’re a NASB fan then this one is definitely worth checking out.

You can pick up your copy of the NASB 95 Classic Reference Bible on Amazon (affiliate).

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