The Crossway ESV Thinline Bible in Deep Brown Buffalo

I’ve actually never had an ESV Thinline before besides a pew Bible. It is past time that I check one out. In the fall, the Heirloom Thinline is coming back out, but if that’s a bit over your budget then you’re definitely going to want to check out the Thinline Bible in buffalo leather. Let’s talk about why this Bible is amazing!

This is the third Bible I’ve checked out in Crossway’s buffalo binding. I am consistently impressed by them. This Bible is an inch thick and the Buffalo is a deep brown with a beautiful grain. The other thing I love on this Bible is the spine hubs. I love spine hubs and the inclusion of them makes this Bible feel more premium to me. All the while, the buffalo leather makes it tough and ready to use.

On the spine in gold are the words, “HOLY BIBLE”, “ESV”, ‘ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION”, and the Crossway logo. Page edges are a gold gilt, there are brown head and tail bands, and one brown ribbon bookmark. I would have loved if they had included two bookmarks in this Bible.

Inside is a brown paste down vinyl liner and brown end sheets. This Bible isn’t edge-lined, but it’s not priced that way. However, it does have a Smyth-sewn binding and that will help keep this Bible going with lots of use. It also features Crossway’s lifetime guarantee against defects.

This Bible is a thinline so it’s set in a double column format and has an 8 point font. The line spacing is great though so it makes it very readable. Another thing that makes this Bible readable is the paper. The paper is really opaque and ghosting is very minimal in this Bible. Some will be aggravated that the text in this Bible isn’t line matched, but the paper really makes this a non-issue. Ghosting is most noticeable in the poetry sections, but it really isn’t bad and this Bible is quite readable. Words of Christ are in red. I found the red in this edition to be very uneven and light in places unfortunately.

This Bible doesn’t have cross references, but there are textual notes at the bottom of each page. There is a Concordance and full-color maps in the back of the Bible. I would have loved for them to leave these out to make this even thinner!

In summary, I think this is a fantastic Bible for the price and if you’re looking for a high quality thinline without the heirloom price tags then you should definitely consider the buffalo edition! This Bible is just begging to be your every day carry.

Pick up your copy of the ESV Thinline in Buffalo leather from Crossway or Amazon (affiliate).

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