ESV Study Bible- Simply Beautiful
As I went to bed last night, I told my wife, “This is really a beautiful Bible.” I have to tell you that the .pdf releases do not do justice to the beauty of the ESV Study Bible. The splashes of color are well used so that you desire to read more. If you are a fan of the ESV translation, then you really should pick up the ESV Study Bible. But even if you are not a fan of the ESV, the study Bible notes, introductions, and articles are so helpful and so interesting that you will be happy to use it as a reference work.
I have a question for those of you who have the ESVSB or know anything about binding or publishing. My copy seems to have been bound too tight. The pages ripple (or dimple, I don’t know the official language of this phenomenon) in toward the spine and there is no way to get the ripples/dimples out. Is this common with Smyth sewn Bibles? Will the binding loosen up and the ripples will fall out? I don’t think I have ever owned a Smyth sewn Bible so I don’t know.
Even with this problem (which is likely isolated to my copy), it is a beautiful Bible and is worthy of any person’s hard earned money. It is a “must buy.”
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Your Thoughts
10 Comments so far10 Responses to “ESV Study Bible- Simply Beautiful”
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R. Mansfield
October 15, 2008 at 10:56 am
This happens when the threads are pulled too tight in the binding/manufacturing process. I have a first edition of the NET Bible with the same flaw. After two years, mine has not flattened out. From what I’ve been told, this happened with a whole batch of the NET Bible, and was corrected in later printings. I wonder how widespread the problem is in the ESVSB?
Brent Kercheville
October 15, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I wonder also. I have the hardback and I would like to hear from others who get an ESVSB. Let us know if your ESV study Bible has the same issue.
Nick Norelli
October 16, 2008 at 9:21 am
My copy suffers from the same ‘defect’ but it is not very pronounced.
Brent Kercheville
October 16, 2008 at 9:51 am
This will be a shame if this is a wider spread problem. I was hoping that I just had bad luck with mine. On mine, the dimpling extends into the cross reference margins and into the study notes, especially when I am more toward the center of the book (like reading Matthew’s gospel).
Chris
November 10, 2008 at 11:20 pm
I went to our local bookstore today and they had both the hardcover and bonded leather on display. Both had the problem you describe. In both cases it was pronounced enough to be a distraction. I will likely buy one anyway, but it’s pretty disappointing.
Chris
November 19, 2008 at 11:34 am
I emailed Crossway Books customer support about this issue and got the following response.
Thank you for your inquiry.
It sounds as though you have noticed some degree of waviness in the gutter of the ESV Study Bible. This effect, called “cockling”, is not uncommon in larger sewn Bibles that are printed on very thin paper. It results from the introduction of moisture in the printing process, which is essential for high-speed manufacturing.
This waviness is not a defect, and it is present to varying degrees in all sewn Bibles, including all copies of the ESV Study Bible. It may decrease slightly over time with use. This effect gets “locked in” when the binding is sewn rather than bound with an adhesive. Even though some
waviness may result from sewing, this method of binding is ideal or even essential for the large ESV Study Bible. It ensures the Bible’s uncompromising durability for years of regular use.
I hope this helps. Please feel free to contact us again if we can serve you further.
R. Mansfield
November 19, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Chris, they may say that to you, but I can guarantee you that with the second printing, the flaw will all but disappear because they will modify the manufacturing process so that the stitches aren’t pulled quite so tight.
They can’t paint it however they like, but it’s a flaw.
Greg Mohney
January 22, 2009 at 10:50 am
This is a flaw. I had a Bible that had this defect, and while the “cockling” got a slight bit better over a couple weeks, the signatures also started to seperate and fall out. I would not accept any Bible that had this defect.
As a sidenote, I have one of the newer ESV Personal Size Reference Bibles that is sewn, and this does not happen. I also have another larger study Bible that is smyth-sewn, and it does not have this defect.
Greg
S Foresman
February 7, 2009 at 8:12 am
My continuing frustration with the ESV is the quality of its Bibles. I will NOT spend 60-70 dollars on the ESV Study Bible (in leather). I do have a leather ESV Reformation Study Bible. The pages are all right, yet the paper is not smooth and easily manipulated. The 2 Bibles I own that ARE of great quality are a 2nd edition Oxford NRSV Study bible and a 10 year old leather NIV Study Bible.
Billy
April 28, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I recently purchased a Calfskin ESV Study Bible and it also has “cockling” in the gutter margin. I too have contacted Crossway and received the same response as noted above. Since this “cockling” is to varying degrees present with all of their copies I have asked to have mine replaced with one in which it is less aparent. I am currently in the process of doing this.  Hopefully the replacement will be much better. But as noted above, if this is from the same batch of printing, I don’t know if it will be much better.