I Have Two Dreams (Single Column Bibles)
I want a nice genuine leather, single column reader text Bible of the NRSV and NLT. Please….
I have the NRSV Standard Bible. The layout is great. It is perfect, actually. Single column and easy to read size type. The layout is so smart that the Psalms are in double column because of the waste of space. But it only comes in a hardback, which I have. But worse, the pages are so, so, so thin. I mean, people complain about bleedthrough, and I think much of it is irrational and overcritical. But the NRSV Standard Bible has pages so thin that it really is difficult to read because the words on the other side the paper are obscuring the text being read. It really is unfortunate.
While I am wishing, can’t we get a nice, genuine leather NRSV without the Apocrypha that has a good typeset and is readable? I will take that, and not ask for the single column layout (as much as I do prefer it).
Why can’t the NLT produce a genuine leather single column Bible? I have the Life Application Bible for the NLT, which is the only readable single column NLT that I know. But I want a reader’s single column reference Bible of the NLT, one without all of the Life Application study notes interfering with a clean text. For all of the popularity of the NLT and the number of editions the NLT is producing, why not a single column reader’s text Bible? Please….
It seems that many publishers are finding that there is a large niche for the single column layout. TNIV Reference Bible, ESV Single Column Reference Bible, ESV Personal Size Reference Bible, and the HCSB Minister’s Bible are examples of recent of single column layout success. I love these, even though each are quite different. I just ordered the NASB Side Column Reference Bible in genuine leather so I could have the NASB in such a format.
Just give me a single column text that is readable (9-10 point font). Please….
Is there anyone else who is with me and loves the single column layout?
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Your Thoughts
9 Comments so far9 Responses to “I Have Two Dreams (Single Column Bibles)”
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ElShaddai Edwards
September 22, 2009 at 6:24 pm
I’m with you 100%. I have the NASB Side-Column Reference and think every translation should be available in this format.
Robert Jimenez
September 23, 2009 at 11:26 am
Me too. I was tempted to purchase the new NLT Pitt Minion Reference Edition from Cambridge. But then I thought about it, and I want a single column, no red lettering version of this bible. Now I am not sure if I want to spend the money.
Curt Parton
September 28, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Robert, I feel the same way about the Tyndale Select NLT. It looks very nice (I’m using essentially the same Bible in the LeatherLike cover), but what I really want is an NLT in a single-column, black-letter, text-only edition in a high quality leather cover with Smyth-sewn binding. (I’d settle for a reference edition if necessary.) So, do I go ahead and buy a quality cover and binding for an edition that is okay but doesn’t offer much of what I’m looking for? Or do I wait and hope for the edition that I really want?
Robert Jimenez
October 1, 2009 at 11:21 am
Curt, the Tyndale Select NLT is a very nice bible, I bought one for a friend as a gift. I own a very similar HCSB, which is also very nice. But I would wait, they will issue one eventually. I own the TNIV Renaissance Single Column black lettering Bible. And it is just really great to study, and read with. I wish it was not as think but you can’t have it all.
We need to give them this suggestion over at their blog. I think that enough people request one they will put it on a higher priority.
Brent Kercheville
October 2, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I am with you, Curt. I have considered the NLT Select which looks like it has a great binding. But it is red letter. Ugh. I really do not like red letter, but all NLTs have red letter except the Life Application Study Bible. I keep holding out for a single column, black letter text NLT. But I am wondering if my holdout is in vain….
Brent Kercheville
October 2, 2009 at 2:43 pm
El Shaddai, I am glad there are others who love the side column reference concept. I think the ESV Single Column Reference is actually superior to the NASB Side Column Reference because the ESV references are on the inside, in the gutter, rather than the text like the NASB which has the references on the outside of the page. It seems smarter to put the references on the inside of the page in the gutter than the text. The TNIV Reference Bible follows the NASB unfortunately, but at the least the TNIV Reference has more margin room to keep the text from falling too far into the gutter.
Now we just need the publishers to hear our cries for more single column, black text options for the various translations.
ElShaddai Edwards
October 2, 2009 at 3:42 pm
@Brent – I actually agree with you on the interior placement of references, especially if space is left on the outside for notes. Maybe someday a publisher will offer true print-on-demand services and we’ll all be able to get our individual preferences!
ElShaddai Edwards
October 2, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Actually, the new Mosaic NLT is black letter. However, ironically and sadly, the new NLT center-column reference Bibles, on which the Mosaic layout is based, will be red-letter editions. *sigh*
Glewen
October 11, 2009 at 2:56 am
Great work,webmaster,nice design!,