The Thomas Nelson Premier Collection NKJV Large Print Wide Margin Reference Bible

If you regularly consume Bible reviews then you’ll know I’m late to the game on reviewing this Bible. Almost everyone has reviewed it! But that’s for good reason. The Premier Collection NKJV Large Print Wide Margin Reference Bible is truly an amazing Bible. It’s beautiful, high quality, and price friendly. So much has been said about it that it will be hard for me to be original, but let’s talk about the things that make this such a nice, premium Bible from Thomas Nelson.

Packaging

As always, the boxes for the Premier Collection are striking! The black and silver with a combination of matte and glossy finishes just shouts premium. Opening the box reveals the black cardstock paper with the silver Premier Collection sticker. I love that I have to unstick a sticker to get to the Bible. It reminds of letters that are sealed with a wax stamp. It gives the premium feeling that this Bible has not been tampered with.

Outer Materials and Construction

You’ll notice right out of the box that this Bible is a beast. It’s heavy and broad. You don’t get a large print, wide margin Bible without having a serious footprint. The Bible itself is almost square rather than rectangular. It’s thinner than a study Bible, but also wider. The Bible is Smyth-sewn for durability, which you’ll need for this chunk!

The wide margin is wrapped in beautiful black goatskin with a nice grain to it. I like this a lot better than some of the earlier Premier Collection goatskin offerings because it doesn’t wrinkle when you curl the cover. It seems to a nicer quality goatskin to me. The spine has 5 raised hubs and printed in gold on the spine are the words, “HOLY BIBLE”, “New King James Version”, and “THOMAS NELSON”.

No major publisher is doing a better ribbons than Thomas Nelson in my opinion. They’re wide, long, and perfect. This Bible has three double sided satin ribbons with two being black and one being red. The page edges feature a very shiny red under gold art gilt and there are black head and tail bands.

Inner Materials and Text Block

The inside cover is edge lined with a black leather interior. There’s a gold perimeter gilt line. If i’m going to nitpick, then I don’t like that gilt line stops at the edge of the text block. I wish it was a full wrap that made a large rectangle. I feel the break at the text block makes it look incomplete.

Let’s talk about what makes this text block great! The paper is a nice, slightly off white 36 gsm and the text is line-matched. This is a good thickness for a wide margin because you’ll undoubtedly want to write in it and you don’t want your pen or pencil bleeding through. There is a little bit of ghosting, but not enough to be a nuisance. The layout is a verse-by-verse setting, which is especially helpful for preachers and teachers. It also has a very generous 10.5-point font in the NKJV Comfort Print. I find this font really pleasing to the eyes. I’m not saying you could read this Bible from a plane… but I’m not not saying it either…

The layout is a double-column, verse-by-verse setting. Verse-by-verse is especially helpful for making specific notes in the margin. References are laid out in single column on the bottom of the page with reference numbers in red. Chapter numbers, section headings, and page references are also in red. This Bible also features the words of Christ in red. That’s not my preference, but Thomas Nelson does it better than anyone else.

I’ve seen several complaints that the inner margin isn’t wide enough, but the problem is that people want publishers to make impossible Bibles. Sacrifices have to be made somewhere. You can either have a Bible the size of a small house with every feature you want or you can make a sacrifice here and there. Thomas Nelson chose to make the inner margin smaller so their Bible wasn’t the width of a cafeteria lunch tray. Here’s the solution—write the verse number next to your note—you’re welcome.

A feature I really like in this Bible is book introductions. Each introduction features information about the author, the time of writing, key verses, and the theme. I think this is a really nice feature and a bit more useful than some features I see in other Bibles.

Extras

This Bible also features a robust concordance, a one year reading plan, and maps.

Conclusion

I think Thomas Nelson has hit a home run with the Premier Collection NKJV Large Print Wide Margin Reference Bible. It’s beautiful, constructed to be used for what it’s intended, and incredibly affordable. The goatskin version comes in at just over $100 on Amazon (affiliate) at the time of this writing. I know that’s still a lot for some people, but this Bible should last you a lifetime. You can also pick up the Leathersoft version for just under $50. If you’re an NKJV user and you like a generous font with space to write then you’ll be hard pressed to find a better Bible!

You can pick up your copy of The Thomas Nelson Premier Collection NKJV Large Print Wide Margin Reference Bible on Amazon (affiliate).

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