The Crossway Heirloom Heritage in Horween Leather
I’m partnering with Westminster Books to bring you a review of Crossway’s Heirloom Heritage in Horween leather. I will say up front that I’m not typically a brown Bible kind of guy, but I love the Horween leather. I love it in the dark brown even. Let’s take a moment before we review the Bible itself to talk about why Horween leather is so special and different from other types of leather.
Horween isn’t for everyone. If you like a bible to look as new three years later as the first day you bought it then Horween probably isn’t for you. If you love to see things develop character and become uniquely yours then you’re going to love Horween leather. Horween shows scratches, develops wrinkles, and shows wear. But this wear is the character that will tell the story of your Bible.
Horween is also more expensive, but that’s because of the process that is used to create it. It’s also crafted in Chicago right here in the US. You can read more about how Horween creates their leathers here. Just know that when you buy a Horween Bible, you’re paying for top shelf quality.
Now let’s talk about the Bible itself. The Heirloom Heritage is beautiful. It’s a nice mid-size Bible that is single column. It comes in Crossway’s signature black and gold Heirloom box and is wrapped in the plush, black velvet material.
When I pulled the Bible out, I was immediately struck by how smooth the Horween leather is. It feels much more like a calfskin than a goatskin. The Bible is perimeter stitched and many have complained that there’s no foil stamping on the spine or a perimeter gilt line. I didn’t like this at first, but the blind stamping creates a really clean look that I’ve come to enjoy. The reason for no foil seems to be that it most likely wouldn’t adhere well to the leather. Not including a gilt line inside creates more uniformity and much cleaner look.
The spine itself has four raised hubs. Blind stamped are the words, “HOLY BIBLE”, the ESV logo, “ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION”, and the Crossway logo. The Bible features brown head and tail bands, red under gold art gilt on the page edges, and four thin double-sided satin ribbon bookmarks. It has been said over and over again, but I will say it once more. Crossway must update their ribbons to a wider and longer variety. This really would take their Bibles from good to perfect. It’s the only complaint and a simple fix!
As stated earlier, Horween develops character and shows wear. This one came with a large scratch across the back that probably is a feature of the animal hide. I also scratched the spine with my fingernail when I went to grab it too hastily. This must be embraced because this Bible will become uniquely yours! It’s a feature I really love and makes me want to use the Bible more and more.
Inside, the Bible has a soft, brown calf liner that feels great to the touch. It is edge-lined and smyth-sewn for durability. It also has dark brown vinyl end sheets. There are family presentation pages in the beginning as well.
The layout of this Bible just blows me away. It’s a single column layout in a hand-sized design. But even better, it has a great font size and great spacing between lines of text. There are no references and translation notes are at the bottom of the page.
The paper is beautiful with almost no ghosting. Crossway’s website calls it a “high quality Bible paper,” but most likely it is a 28 gsm. The text is line matched. What’s really impressive for a Bible of this size is that there is a really nice margin size on all sides. Especially in the gutter, there is no risk of the text dipping in there.
Speaking of the text, this Bible has a 9.25 Lexicon font and honestly, because of the line spacing, it looks bigger!. This has to be the feature that impresses me the most. This is a great looking font size for this size Bible and it makes it the type of Bible that you want to use all the time and take with you everywhere. I can’t say enough good things about it.
The back of the Bible does not have a concordance, but does have several full color maps. I’d honestly prefer the concordance, but most people know my opinions on Bible maps so I won’t go into that here. There are also several blank pages of Bible paper before the maps and blank pages of cardstock after. This is super useful for writing your own notes and a great feature to be included.
I’m a Horween believer! I love this Bible. I have the goatskin edition as well, but will always reach for the Horween because I love watching the Bible show signs of use and develop more and more character over time. I also love the Heritage layout. The single column with generous spacing makes this the perfect Bible to carry everywhere in my opinion. You won’t regret picking up this Bible and my recommendation is you head over to Westminster Books to get yours today!
You can pick up your copy of the Heirloom Heritage in Horween at Westminster Books.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this Bible from Westminster Books in exchange for a fair and honest review.
