An AE Bibles Rebind of a Cambridge Topaz in Green Double Shot

I’ve long considered the Cambridge Topaz one of the best ESV Bible layouts that is currently produced. The combination of verse-by-verse formatting, outside column references, line-matching, and red verse accent colors make this Bible a home run in my book. Cambridge’s materials are nice and all, but I thought this was a special block that could use an upgrade. I’m happy to have teamed up with Adrian Alonzo at AE Bibles to give this Bible a look worthy of it’s name.

Adrian was good to work with. I will say he did take longer than usual to get this project done, but his work was worth the wait. To be fair, I changed my mind on what look I wanted to go for several times. I think the end result is amazing though and Adrian’s work will definitely turn heads.

I ended up deciding to go with the Green Double Shot Leather. I had never encountered double shot before, but it’s a leather that I really like. It doesn’t have the grain of goatskin, but somewhat puts you in the mind of Horween. It has a bit of a matte feel to it and it develops some real character with use. However, it doesn’t seem as sensitive as Horween. The green is a nice emerald color and mine already is showing quite a bit of character on the front cover. Adrian did what I’d call a semi app and included a great looking tooled perimeter line to give the cover a bit of definition. He also did a blue perimeter stitching.

I kept the spine pretty simple with the words, “HOLY BIBLE”, “ENGLISH STANDARD VERSION”, and the AE logo stamped in gold. The double shot takes the gold stamp really well unlike Horween, which always seems to be blind stamped. Adrian also did five raised hubs. I like Adrian’s spine hubs a lot. They are thin and clean. They look really good on my thinner block.

He went with white head and tail bands for this Bible and I love that choice because they really pop. He also included three long double-sided satin ribbon book marks with two being navy and one in green. I chose blue as the accent color for this Bible because the page edges are blue under gold and because green and blue are my favorite colors.

Inside is a navy lambskin liner with blue textured end sheets. Adrian’s corner work is nice and tight as well.

All in all, I really love this Bible and Adrian’s work on it. He’s a true artist and if you get a rebind from him, I think you’ll be quite pleased with the craftsmanship and Adrian himself. Be sure to hit him up at his website and tell him I sent you!