The NKJV Single-Column Wide Margin Reference Bible in Black Genuine Leather

Apr 12

Apr 12 The NKJV Single-Column Wide Margin Reference Bible in Black Genuine Leather

When it comes to Bibles, I don’t think I’ve met a perfect one. People often talk about finding “the one”, but I think it’s a myth. It doesn’t exist. However, the NKJV Single-Column Wide Margin Reference Bible is very close to what I could find myself calling “the one.” However, it falls short in a couple of ways. Let’s take a closer look.

This Bible comes in a nice clam shell box. When you open it, you’ll be greeted by an attractive black genuine leather. I notice immediately how flexible the Bible is. The leather has a great grain to it. It’s thick, but not too thick in my opinion.

The spine is beautiful. I love that Thomas Nelson has been playing around with some decorative spines. It has five raised hubs and gold double bars outline each hub. I think the gold is a really nice touch and for some time it was only something I was seeing done on rebinds. I really like the look though. Also in gold are the words “HOLY BIBLE”, “NKJV”, and the Thomas Nelson logo.

The page edges are a gold gilt. There are black head and tail bands. There are two double-sided satin ribbon bookmarks that are wide and long. I’ve started to consider these bookmarks as Thomas Nelson’s signature. They’re perfect and I wish other companies would follow suit.

The Bible has a black paste down vinyl liner. I think this contributes to the flexibility of the Bible. The Bible is Smyth-sewn for durability. The Bible also features overcast stitching, which is a great feature to increase durability and not all Bibles include this.

The paper in this Bible is beautiful. I’m not sure of the thickness, but if the ghosting is any indication then it is thicker than most Bibles I’ve seen these days. Being a wide margin, you want this kind of thickness. There is very little ghosting. You’ll notice it more in the poetry sections, which brings me to my first complaint. This Bible isn’t line matched. I am being a bit nit picky here because the paper is so thick that I truly believe it doesn’t matter. However, it is noticeable in the poetry sections like I said.

I’ll go ahead and get my other complaint out of the way and once again, this is personal preference. I so wish this was a single-column verse-by-verse setting. This layout is set in paragraphs and if it was versified it would be amazing. A single-column verse-by-verse NKJV doesn’t exist and I’d love to see Thomas Nelson make one!

Now that that’s out of the way, everything else in this Bible is awesome. The font is an 8.5 NKJV Comfort Print that feels just big enough. Cross references are in the inner margin, which is perfect! Notes are at the bottom of the page. The Bible has a maroon accent color for headings, chapters, and verse references. I’m not a fan of the words of Christ being in red, but I do believe Thomas Nelson does it better than anyone else. There’s a 1.5” outer margin with plenty of room for notes. This Bible is truly awesome!

In the back is a nice double-column concordance and some lined sheets for extra notes. This Bible is truly awesome! If I could ask Thomas Nelson to produce a Bible, I’d say make this one, line match it, and do verse-by-verse and that could be “the one”! If you go out and grab one of these, you won’t be disappointed. I’m quite confident.