Review: New American Standard Bible - in Touch Ministries Wide Margin Edition - High Quality Black Calfskin

The In Touch Ministries Wide Margin Edition is especially designed for taking notes with a 1" margin around the top, bottom and outside edges.

Information About the Binding & Cover:
This elegant Bible is handcrafted from high quality black Calfskin leather. The Leather has rich color tone, well defined grain, and is soft to the touch, Calfskin leather is particularly valuable because of its softness, flexibly, and fine grain. This edition is amazingly flexibly, when you hold this Bible it literally "fits your hand like a glove". The reinforced spine of this Bible adds to its durability. This edition lays flat while your reading because of its high quality Smythe sewn binding. Smythe sewn binding is considered the highest quality binding, the pages are sewn and glued to the spine of the Bible. The benefits are a long lasting Bible that can be read and reread for years without falling apart. Books with Smythe sewn binding will stand up to more abuse than regular glued binding, and can be read on a flat surface. For these reasons many textbooks, picture books and Bibles that are designed to stand the tests of time use Smythe sewn binding. Smythe sewn book printing and binding gets its name from its inventor, an Irish-American named David McConnell Smythe (1833-1807). A pioneer of modern day bookbinding, Smythe took a bold leap forward over the centuries old methods of binding by producing the first technology and methods for sewing book pages to the spine to create a book of superior quality and appearance. Smythe-sewn Bibles are durable, but they may be heavier and less flexible than glued Bibles. That said if you want the best, then you want Smythe sewn binding. Trim Size: 6 1/2 x 9 1/4 x 1 5/8

What's inside?
The text of this edition is 10 pt, which is clear and easy to read. The layout of this Bible is double column format, Black letter edition, with paragraph/subject headings. Features of this edition include a 70 page Concordance, 8 Full color maps, expanded margins, and high quality bleed-proof paper. The margins are 1" along the border of the page, there is also limited room on the inside edges for writing. This Bible is printed on high quality imported paper, which is much thicker than regular Bible paper. The publisher states that it's safe to use ballpoint pens for writing in this Bible because of the thickness of the Paper. This edition has two black ribbon markers, the pages are edged with gold which looks very elegant with the traditional black calfskin cover.

In the Front

1. Blank Pages for Notes
2. Presentation Page
3. A Letter from Dr. Charles Stanley
4. Preface to the NASB
5. Books of the Bible in Canonical Order
6. Books of the Bible in Alphabetical Order

In the Back

1. Concordance
2. 8 Full color maps
3. Blank Pages

Information About this Translation
The translation used in this edition is the Updated New American Standard Version
The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is a revision of the American Standard Version of 1901. The American Standard Version was a reversion of the King James Version. Many view the New American Standard Bible as one of the most literal translations of the 20th-century. Since its completion in 1971, the New American Standard Bible has been widely embraced by many as "the most literally accurate English translation" from the original languages. In 1995, the Lockman Foundation reissued the NASB text as the NASB Updated Edition (or more often known, the Updated NASB or NASB95). Since then, it has become known simply as the "NASB" and has supplanted the 1971 text in most current printings (although the Thompson Chain Reference Bibles, the Open Bibles, and the Key Word Study Bibles still use the 1977 text for their NASB editions).

Introduction to the New American Standard Bible
New American Standard Bible Translation Principles
Compare Translations

My Personal Opinion
The flexibility of this Bible is simply amazing, I have never held a Bible this flexible. Another aspect of this edition that I am impressed with is the quality of the calfskin cover, not only is the cover the beautiful, it is a pleasure to hold. The paper is much thicker than regular Bible paper any one who takes notes will appreciate this aspect. This edition lays flat while your reading which is something else to be appreciated. The only aspect of this edition that could possibly be improved upon would be to allow more writing space on the inside edge of the pages. This Bible is one of the best that I have had the opportunity to review, I am very impressed with the quality of this edition.

The In Touch Ministries Wide Margin Edition featured in this review can be found at NASB In Touch Ministries Bible, Black Calfskin The hard cover edition can be found at NAS Wide Margin In Touch Bible, Hardcover