The NKJV Sovereign Personal Size Bible from Thomas Nelson

I’m excited about this Bible. I’m so excited I’m reviewing two of them at the same time. I’ve been waiting for this Bible ever since the KJV edition was released. I am of course talking about the NKJV Sovereign Personal Size Edition. Why am I so excited? Let’s take a closer look.

I am reviewing both the black genuine leather and purple Leathersoft editions of this Bible. I wanted to compare the two especially because fake leather is getting so good. I know most of the internals will be the same, but I thought a leather comparison could be pretty fun. 

So the outer material of these Bibles differs in big ways and has some similarities. I opted for the purple Leathersoft because honestly, purple is fun! The black genuine leather has a nice grain. It has “HOLY BIBLE” stamped in gold on the front. The genuine leather feels smooth, but it isn’t soft. The purple Leathersoft has an intricate leaf pattern stamped on the front. It has a lot of character, but the Leathersoft itself is quite soft and smooth. It has a beautiful design really. 

The spine of each Bible looks the same. There are four raised hubs on each one. I love when they do raised hubs on fake leather! They have almost identical designs. There is a lot of ornate designs in gold. I really like the way they look. In gold also on each are the words, “HOLY BIBLE”, “NEW KING JAMES VERSION”, and “THOMAS NELSON”. 

There is a noticeable difference on the gilding. Both are gold, but the genuine leather definitely looks nicer and has a sparkle to it. The Leathersoft gilding looks a bit flat in comparison. Both have great ribbons. They are long and wide. They each feature two. The genuine leather has a black and a red. The Leathersoft has a purple and a red. Also noticeable with the Leathersoft is some dried excess glue by the head and tail bands. This won’t affect the performance of the Bible, but it’s worth mentioning. 

There is a major difference immediately inside these Bibles. The genuine leather is edgelined, which will  increase durability. It also has a black vinyl liner. The Leathersoft has a purple paste down liner and isn’t edgelined. This is to be expected, but it’s another reason that you do get what you pay for. 

The inside of the Sovereign Personal size is incredible. From this point forward I won’t be pointing out differences because the Bibles should be the same. The paper in these Bibles is nice and opaque. Ghosting is almost non-existent.  It’s a double column layout with a verse-by-verse setting. Maroon is used as an accent color on page headings, chapters, subheadings, verse numbers, and the ornamental drop caps. Speaking of, the ornamental drop caps are so nice and really set these Bibles off. They look great and it’s amazing to find them in Leathersoft editions. At the bottom of each page is a single column of verse references and textual notes. Each chapter also features a brief book introduction.

The font size is a nice 9.5 point in the NKJV Comfort Print. I love the Comfort Print and the larger font size makes this a great portable edition. Words of Christ are in red.

The back features a Concordance as well as maps.

These Bibles are awesome. I obviously would recommend springing for the genuine leather if you can afford it just for the nicer features, but the Leathersoft is both beautiful and affordable. I’m a big fan of the Sovereign collection and really excited it has made its way to the NKJV. You’ll be happy you picked up a copy.

Grab the Genuine Leather or the Leathersoft on Amazon (affiliate). 

Disclaimer: I received copies of these Bibles from Thomas Nelson in exchange for a fair and honest review.