TNIV XL Rebound by LeatherBibles.com
When I reviewed the Allan's TNIV, I pointed out that readers of that translation have a hard time finding quality editions. There's the edition from Allan's, a couple from Cambridge (which are not available in North America due to market restrictions), and now the TNIV Reference Bible, which in spite of having a bonded leather cover does feature a Smyth-sewn binding. Jay Davis, a Salvation Army captain who reads this blog, decided to take matters into his own hands. He sent his XL edition of the TNIV to LeatherBibles.com to have it rebound. These photos reveal the result. Above: The TNIV XL in a two-tone calfskin cover by LeatherBibles.com. I was impressed when I saw that cover. If you recall, Scott Kay had his Greek NT rebound by LeatherBibles.com, and the results were impressive. The same thing applies here. Take a look at the grain on that cover. The two-tone look wouldn't appeal to me ordinarily, but here it's executed in a very attractive way. Jay reports that it's very flexible and supple. Above: The cover is quite limp. Of course, one of the challenges when you rebind a Bible is that no matter how good the cover is, you can't change the insides. In this case, the TNIV XL has a glued binding. I wouldn't ordinarily recommend having a glued edition rebound -- but I did it with my ESV Thinline because at the time there was no choice. Jay's dilemma was similar. He liked the format of the XL, and it was only available with an adhesive binding. He posted a review of the XL at Amazon that emphasizes both the pros and cons:
"The binding is glued, not sewn. This edition is "larger print," only slightly larger than the standard edition. The print formatting is great, the print is maybe 10.5 pica. The word and sentence spacing is very good. "My biggest complaint with Zondervan and other Bibles is the marginal paper quality. Being a Thinline edition, paper quality is bleed-through and shadowing. In this edition you will find shadowing, which may detract from the enjoyment of reading. I personally like the font size and two columns. For me at age 51 it is what I like. It seems ridiculously hard to find good Bible with good paper."
Above: Inside the XL. Below: The spine. Thanks for sharing the results of your rebinding project, Jay!