A Rex Rebinds ESV Personal Size Reference

Let me say up front that this will be an ongoing review. It’s one of the reasons I’m really excited about this little Bible. ET Peterson of Rex Rebinds and I have been talking for awhile about putting one of his rebinds through a stress test of sorts. He said that no one has really beat one of his Bibles up and he wants to see one put through the paces. Well… challenge accepted. I sent him an ESV Personal Size Reference, which you can get for about $15. He has now transformed it into a premium Bible (I think they should make a premium version of this Bible). I want to review it as it’s brand spanking new and then I plan to use it and abuse it—and by abuse I mean take it all over without a case and not baby it like I really want to. So let’s check it out!

We talked about the design of this Bible for awhile and I’m so impressed with the result. I had been wanting a horizontal spine style Bible for awhile so that’s what we cooked up. The Bible is wrapped in Sapphire Blue Double Shot leather, which I think will patina nicely and show great signs of use. This leather smells incredible and is so soft. ET gave this thing plenty of yapp, which I love! It’s also going to be great for protecting the page edges since I’m not going to be using a case or sleeve. He did a double tool line around this Bible, which looks fantastic with the yapp.

What I really want to highlight is the spine. I’m in love with the spine on this Bible. As I said, I wanted to go horizontal because I like the look. The word I wanted stamped on the spine is “BEAULAH”, which comes from Isaiah 62:4, “You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.” Beaulah is the Hebrew term for married in this verse and I love the symbolism there.

ET’s spine hubs may be my favorite I’ve ever seen on a rebind. I love his craftsmanship and I love the tooling around each one. On this horizontal spine, I especially love how he did three on each side of the word. It’s gorgeous!

Speaking of gorgeous, the corner work on this Bible is phenomenal. He also used his new “butt edge” style on the liner where the inside liner lines up perfectly with cover. He tells me that while harder, this style is much stronger than the traditional overlap. Speaking of, the light blue liner looks fantastic with this Sapphire Double Shot. It’s incredibly soft.

The Bible also features blue leather head and tail bands in the same color as the liner. This is a nice touch. I was struck by how long the ribbons are on this Bible! ET told me that he does the same size each time, but they look long on this small Bible. I didn’t specify ribbon color, but he used two navy and one royal blue. I love the choice!

Wrapping it up are two small details that tie this whole thing together. He used awesome end sheets for this Bible. The pattern and color are so fun! I love end sheets that have patterns instead of a solid color so I love this choice! He also did a blue art gilt on my page edges. This really brings the whole thing home and looks fantastic.

Finally, I had him put his logo on the back cover. ET really likes his logo on the spine so I have to mention this. He was gracious enough to let me do it on the back cover since I wanted that clean horizontal spine. Thank you my friend.

Let me shoot you straight. I think Rex Rebinds is the best quality to cost value in the rebinding world right now. ET is doing amazing work and I personally think he should be charging more. I’d get in with him now if I were you! Also, keep your eyes peeled as I will be doing some regular updates as I use this Bible and put it through some hard paces!

Go hit up Rex Rebinds on Facebook and book a rebind today. Tell him Cam sent you!